


SD Gundam Force Forever

by BetterBeMeta



Series: By Sparing Sazabi [5]
Category: SD Gundam Force
Genre: Alternate Universe, Epic Length, Expanded Universe Fic, Multi, series sequel, time paradox
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2019-10-06 23:50:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 66,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17354990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterBeMeta/pseuds/BetterBeMeta
Summary: It is the near future. There have been 13 years of peace in the multiverse after the defeat of General Zeong. Neotopia is a nascent power in dimensional space. The Super Dimensional Guard has brought aid and fellowship to dozens of other worlds. Technology has been developed to reach the most distant stars. Nanako, the sister of the famous hero Shute, is introduced to the newest Gundam in the GP series, GP-04 Madnug: an event transfixed in time.  Soon, a Nu Gundam Force is tasked with investigating unrest in paradise, and a crisis erased from history.





	1. His Name Is Madnug (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Fate of Commander Sazabi](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7929382) by [BetterBeMeta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterBeMeta/pseuds/BetterBeMeta). 
  * Inspired by [Craters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8006419) by [LadyShockbox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShockbox/pseuds/LadyShockbox). 



> My only request to my audience is to read this as an anime.

The time? The not-too-distant future. The golden age of robotics!

The place? The city of Neotopia! Where robots and humans live together in harmony!

We don’t just work together! We share friendships, families, and even pets.

Humanity and robots have achieved a happy, smoothly functioning society that has stood against even the forces of evil. United with our friends in Lacroa and Ark, Neotopia stands for a bright and happy future for everyone in the multiverse.

And, thanks to the SDG and the interdimensional Gundam Force, things are going to stay that way.

It’s paradise!  

 --  

 

 

\--

“On your mark, zako! Get set! Go!”

Nanako Casval Ray pushed off the starting line for the 100m dash and immediately pulled ahead of three other kids her age. The adults watching the practice stood up and cheered. The one Zako runner, who participated just for fun, tripped and fell down only a few strides into the race.

“You can do it, Nana!”

“Go for it!”

Just breathe. Show them what you’re made of!

The lane stretched out far before her, but she pulled closer and closer and wouldn’t let go.

Another runner caught up alongside her, and as she hit stride on the finish, drew ahead.

The crowd cried out and family members hopped the fence to go congratulate the athletes. Nanako leaned on her knees, breathing in and out. In, and out.

“Hey, sis,” said a voice above her. “You did great!”

Nanako swiped the bottle of water from her brother and poured some on her head, then in her mouth. “I didn’t win,” she admitted. “Next time.”

“Actually, you beat your own record,” said Captain Gundam, who had also attended the track rally with her brother. The two were, as always, inseparable. “Your previous best time was 13.5 seconds. You came in at 13.2.”

“What? Really?”

“Affirmative,” said Captain Gundam. “The winning time was 13.0 exactly.”

“You beat all the other kids your own age,” said Shute. “The winner looks older.”

“That’s something at least,” said Nanako. Then she giggled. “I’m glad you two came. If it had been Sazabi he’d be saying stuff like... “ She put on her best Commander-Sazabi-Voice, “Destroy him!”

Shute snorted through his nose.

“He’s tied up with the space project, I think,” said Shute. “You want a ride home? There’s someone I really want you to meet coming over tonight.”

“Uh, I’ll wash up and be back on my own,” Nanako said. “But I’ll definitely be there!”

“Right. We’ll see you at 1800 hours,” said Captain Gundam. “Take care, Nanako.”

“You too.”

She watched them wave goodbye, walk over to a paved, heli-access pad, and rocket off together. She smiled to herself, dumped the rest of the water over her head, and made for the showers. The rest of the girls asked a lot of questions:

“Wow! Was that Captain Gundam?”

“Sure was!” said Nana.

“He’s so cool!”

“Sure is!” said Nana.

“So Shute Ray is your brother?”

What, am I on trial now?” Nana teased. “Of course he’s my big brother!”

She showered off and had to get back into her only change of clothes, her school uniform. Her wet hair dripped all over it before she put it up into cute pigtails.

“Hey! We should hang out!”

Nanako smiled and laughed, and backed out the gym door. “ Maybe sometime. I’ve got to run.”

“Well, okay. See you next week!”

“You too.”

Nana was slinging her gym bag over her shoulder and taking the public lift down Neotopia Tower from Harmony Park 2 before she thought too hard about all this.

“You’re such a dummy,” she mumbled. “You should have said yes this time.”

The soft rumble of the empty lift answered her.

“Oh, who am I kidding…?”

The doors opened to the ground level. Nanako held out her transit tag to catch the hoverrail. She got off on Soc-Arts Avenue 1. There was a beverage promotion going on by the square there, and she got a slurpee with her Neotopia Student-ID. There was a lot of good window shopping off Soc-Arts. All the very latest fashions were there, for both humans and robots. She took a picture of the newest model phone with her own, then snapped up the specs too. She sent them to her brother. It was kind of an unsubtle clue.

When her slurpee ran out, she checked the time. Then got on the train again outbound to her connection. Neotopia’s city passed by, then thinned into quiet offices on the metro outskirts. Then to industrial and factory areas. Nanako leaned up against the

window and watched the people flash by. Then trickle past. Then as the sun angled lower, they vanished entirely and all the concrete parks, warehouses, and empty lots faded into green nature. One by one, passengers disembarked until only Nanako was left on the route.

The car slowed.

Which was weird, because they weren’t anywhere near her stop.

“Hello, excuse me,” the railcar said to Nanako, from one of its onboard speakers. “I’m sorry, but we seem to be experiencing a technical malfunction. You’ll have to wait for the next train.”

“Oh no! Is everything okay?” Nanako asked. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Don’t you worry about me, miss. Just a little short in my rear generator. Simple enough for a professional to handle. But for your safety, I’m afraid that I can’t take you any further.”

Nanako got off. “I hope you can get fixed and go off-duty right away.”

“Ha! It’s fine. I’ll watch some movies while I wait. The next car is in an hour. How far do you still have to go?”

"Oh, um, to district 8. It’s okay, I can jog home.”

“All that way?”

“It’s no big deal,” said Nanako. “I should be training for my next track meet.”

The hoverrail’s AI didn’t have a face in this body, but it beeped approvingly. “Good luck, miss. I hope I see you around again sometime.”

“Yeah! Same!”

Nanako set off running with her gym bag bouncing on her back. That lift from Captain Gundam was looking pretty good, all things considered. The sun was sinking behind Neotopia Tower in the distance, held in its branches. She jogged along the tracks towards the green county districts. Spare warehouses and rail sheds crept by. Too bad she couldn’t turn into a train or something.

Nanako pulled out her phone, was halfway to dialing her mom for a ride home, when she saw a mobile citizen slowly flying overhead. “Huh? Captain?”

High above, the robot seemed to scan the skyline. It wasn’t Captain Gundam. But she knew basically all the robots who could fly like that in Neotopia, so she ran after it anyway. “Hey! Hey, down here!”

That robot ignored her.

“Could you give me a hand? Neotopia to robot! Stranded kid down here!”

The robot stopped in midair. When Nanako thought it was about to turn around and fly back to help her, it began to descend. It disappeared behind a secluded depot only a half-kilometer down the line. Nanako wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked behind her for a second. Then ahead. No one was around. She’d passed that depot on the rail like, a zillion times. Nothing was there.

“This isn’t any of my business, right?” she muttered.

Nanako ran at the chain-link fence and climbed up to the top, inched over to the fire escape, and reached for the emergency ladder. The robot looked like they’d gone inside the ground level door. Nanako was a little bit stronger than busted shutter windows and pried one off, careful not to cut herself on the metal edges.

Down below, the robot and three humans were talking.

“Is all in order?”

“Yes. We’ve done what you said,” said one of the humans. They were wearing a jacket with the hood pulled up and drawn closed. Like they didn’t want the others to know who they were.

Nanako inched along the upper catwalk a little farther. Careful not to make so much noise. Every so often, the building itself would sigh under its age, and the people down below seemed content to assume she was part of that.

“Good. It is good to find those capable of taking direction,” said the robot. “You will have the results you desire shortly.”

It was sort of murky in the building, but she could see the robot was painted in purple, as if it was meant to fly at night. Nanako had seen all sorts of mecha, and this looked like none of them. Not even like the Musha denizens of Ark, or like the magical knights from Lacroa. Not quite like the Axians either. And it definitely wasn’t any kind of frame common in Neotopia. Some custom or luxury model? Of what?

“Pardon me for asking, but what do you get in return? You’re a robot. I mean, I’m thankful, but…”

“In a manner of speaking, we both want the same thing: to move into the future,” said the robot. “It is rare for humans to be of-use to me. In this respect, you stand as titans among your kind.”

“So that’s it? We’re done? That’s all we had to do?”

“No. I will call on you again tomorrow,” said the robot. “Tonight, look to Neotopia tower. Relish your utility.”

Nanako watched the three humans walk out. The robot stayed. She didn’t move either. The robot looked up at where she was hidden behind the open shutter. Nanako kept still. She held her breath. Then, its two back-binders flared to life, and it roared upward. Lighting up the depot, and then ascending into the sky with rocket speed.

“What was that?” Nanako muttered to herself. “Some kind of gang? Secret club meeting… did they have a handshake?”

She looked at her phone.

“Ugh! I can’t be late!”

She hopped out the window, jumped the fence, and started running home.  
  
\--

“Mom! Dad! I’m back!”

Kind of sweaty, but back. She slung her gym bag down into the corner by the door, removed her shoes, and inhaled. Perfect dinner timing! That slurpee was long gone.

“Hi, Nana!” said her father, sticking his head out of the kitchen. “Where were you off to?”

Nanako thought of the secret meeting in the depot.

“Oh, you know. Around,” she said. “I went to Soc-Arts after the meet. The new model AE phone came out!”

“Well, if you save your allowance you can get it,” said her father.

“Nah, I have an older brother for that kind of thing,” said Nanako. She watched as her words summoned her brother out of the kitchen, carrying a stack of the good plates. He was still in his uniform. So he’d been on-duty after the meet, and hadn’t had time to change back.

Being a real member of the SDG was probably a little bit less casual than being a “special member.”

“I mean, she’s right,” said her brother Shute. “The specs are no big deal. Tell you what, I’ll homebrew you one when I get the chance.”

“Yes!”

Her mother walked in now, carrying in… meatloaf.

(No!)

“Hey now, don’t exploit your brother,” her mother said, and put the meatloaf down in the middle of the table. “And didn’t you have some kind of introduction to make, mister?”

“Oh, yeah! That’s right. Captain should be done filling him in now. I’ll go get them.”

Shute handed his plates to Nanako. She set them out as slowly as possible, waiting for this mystery guest? Celebrity? Secret agent!

Most robots didn’t need to eat human food, but it still was polite to set them a place so they had somewhere to be part of the conversation. Humans sat nearby while robots charged themselves all the time. Two plate-less places were left. And, sure enough, Shute returned leading Captain Gundam… and another mobile citizen that Nanako had never seen before.

It was another Gundam wearing SDG badges. He was painted a matte white, with a few green-glass pieces and blue details. There were lots of spaces where some bigger attachments probably hooked on. He stood there and looked at each member of her family in turn, then didn’t seem to know what to do with himself.

“Guys, this is Madnug. Madnug, this is my family. My mom Keiko, my dad Mark, and my little sister Nanako.”

“I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” said Madnug.

“Huh, he looks just like Captain,” said Nanako’s father.

“Does not,” said Nanako immediately. “He looks totally different.”

“Well, they’re both handsome,” said Keiko.

“Hey, come on,” said Shute. “He was only activated yesterday, wait a while before we argue over him?”

Soon it was another family dinner. Her dad talked about the new deal he had with his label. Her mom talked about something funny a student had written into one of their papers. Her brother talked about SDG things that weren’t classified, and like always Captain added the details to the stories. Or corrected them when they got a little wild. Madnug didn’t seem upset to remain silent. He watched with a quiet, intense interest, focusing on each speaker as if he was analyzing every word.

“What do you do, Madnug?” asked Nanako.

“I was constructed for research and analysis purposes, specifically in context of Neotopian space exploration,” said Madnug. “But I am capable of undertaking a variety of functions.”

“So like, science,” Nanako said. “That’s cool.”

“‘Cool?’” Madnug said softly. “I don’t understand.”

“She means that it’s charismatic and interesting to her,” Captain Gundam said.

Nanako watched most of her family giggle. She’d seen more than enough figures-of-speech mixups with Captain to know why.

“I like my science lessons, I mean. But you probably are already better at them than me!” said Nanako.

“That’s not necessarily true,” said Madnug. “So long as you think they are ‘cool.’”

He may have been programmed to be kind, but that was a nice thing for him to say. After she was done chewing, she opened her mouth to thank Madnug and ask him about the water cycle as a test. But her thought vanished, interrupted. Captain Gundam’s v-fin alert was going off. He said something discretely to Shute. Shute nodded, whispered something back.

“Sorry to eat and run,” he said. “But it looks like we have some extra work to do tonight.”

“Aw,” said Nanako.

“Madnug, please stay with Shute’s family until you are collected at 0600 tomorrow morning,” said Captain. “You may treat this as a secure location.” 

“Yes, Captain.”

“You be careful out there, Shute. Captain, too.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you soon.”

And in only two minutes, it was like every other family dinner with the two of the coolest people in her life missing. Poor Madnug stood there without much expression. Nanako didn’t blame him. That was how she felt about this kind of thing all the time.

“I’m worried,” said Keiko. “They haven’t had to call Shute in off-duty for a long time.”

“If it’s a real emergency, put on the news.”

“Okay. But if it’s top secret, we’re not going to see anything.”

Madnug spoke up. “I have only a limited level of disclosure, but to my knowledge nothing recently should be cause for unscheduled deployment.”

The portable screen slid across the ceiling from the kitchen, closed whatever cookbook Keiko had been referencing, and instead turned on a channel of local coverage. It was a view of Neotopia Tower at night. Nanako had a funny feeling, even if at first she wasn’t really listening. The words BREAKING NEWS, BREAKING NEWS scrolled across the top of the screen.

_-so far, the SDG has not released a statement, but security footage depicts malfunction of two post-Axian Zakos-_

A brilliant white explosion bloomed halfway up one of Neotopia Tower’s spires. Nanako held her fork midair for two whole minutes. Her mashed potatoes fell back to her plate.


	2. Thread— Please Respond: Safety Head Count

 

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Please Respond: Safety Head Count

1

stAr

Administrator

| 

Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:15 PM

I've never had to make a thread like this before. By now I'm sure everybody's seen the emergency at Neotopia Tower. It looks like there were a lot of people injured. To be safe, I would like everybody to please check in on this thread. If somebody can't respond, I want to reach out to them.

I just want to know we are okay.  
  
---|---  
  
DiyaSodi

Malamech GF <3

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:17 PM

here!!

I could add a sig. .. or I could bean you with a can of peaches... decisions decisions!  
  
Beryl

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:24 PM

I'm safe at home. I can't believe something like this would happen out of nowhere. The news is still covering the developing story.  
www.nnn.uc/298/4/19/blasts-reported-at-neotopia-tower/story.html  
  
Chiaxx

ya girl

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:30 PM

here! I just called Eliza, she's home with family.

Have you hugged your Nega Robo stan today?  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:31 PM

Present and accounted for, zako. Early reporting is that it was a reactor failure in two zakos.

zako.  
  
DiyaSodi

Malamech GF <3

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:33 PM

D: D: D:

I could add a sig. .. or I could bean you with a can of peaches... decisions decisions!  
  
Gameboy99

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:40 PM

Reporting for duty, fearless leader (￣^￣)ゞ

SmOKe handle: Gameboy9_9 NOW STREAMING WEEKLY  
  
stAr

Administrator

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:42 PM

> Gameboy99
> 
> Reporting for duty, fearless leader (￣^￣)ゞ

Oh come on, I'm not really a leader. I just keep the lights on. Anyone else on tonight?  
  
ERRORS

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:48 PM

here

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
CamV

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 8:55 PM

I'm here with Basil we're working on a project together

Cam is a boys' AND girls name!! Fanart   
  
PhishSox

Fashion Icon

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 9:15 PM

I just got home. I was in the other part of the tower, I was stuck on the 63rd floor for hours. I'm freaking out, what if it was me? I can't upload video tho my phone is dead  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 9:20 PM

> PhishSox
> 
> I can't upload video tho my phone is dead

Is it broken or just out of battery?

zako.  
  
PhishSox

Fashion Icon

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 9:22 PM

> elbie
> 
> Is it broken or just out of battery?

Just the battery. It's been on the fritz  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: Please Respond: Safety Head Count

Posted 4-19-298 at 9:26 PM

> PhishSox
> 
> Just the battery.

A reactor explosion without an EMP? Someone set this up.

zako.  
  
1


	3. His Name is Madnug (Part 2)

The old shed out back was a little rickety, but still good. Nanako sat out on the roof and listened to the crickets in the woods. Sometimes she’d go inside and look at her brother’s old things, read in her ‘clubhouse’ like she used to when she was little. But these days, it was all about the roof. Now that she was tall enough to use the trick to get up there, anyway.

A long time ago, her brother had put in a skylight so Captain Gundam could get in from above. It was easy to reach from the upper level, pull herself up, and climb outside. There was a good view of the city from up here. She could see the wisps of smoke still rising from the tower, lit up by search-and-rescue.

It was hard not to flinch as Madnug touched down  noisily  next to her on the roof. (Could he  fly ? Boosters for short distances?) The gundam froze as the structure creaked under his weight. But again, the old shed was still good.

“Hey,” said Nanako. She closed her laptop computer console. “What brings you out here like this?”

“A variety of factors,” said Madnug. “I have no idle tasks assigned to me. Your father Mark left to consult his employer. It seems they had worked in Neotopia Tower.”

“Yeah, he’s like Shute. He’s off working a lot at silly hours of the day and night,” said Nanako. “But music and sound design are a lot safer than being part of the SDG.”

“Your mother is now sleeping. I do not need to recharge, or to refresh my processes. It was incorrect to impose on her.” 

“Awkward,” agreed Nanako. “When I had sleepovers I never knew what to do when everyone went to bed.”

“Yes. Awkward.” He paused. “What are you doing?”

“Huh?” said Nanako. “Nothing. Hanging out.”

“‘Hanging out?’”

“It’s when you’re  just  chilling… I mean, when you’re calm and relaxing.  Maybe  take the time to be with your friends,” Nanako said. “Do you want to hang out with me?”

“Yes.  I think  so.”

They sat together  quietly  for a few minutes and looked up at the stars.

“Am I doing it?” Madnug asked.

“Yeah,” said Nanako.

“Nothing is happening.”

“Nothing’s supposed to,” said Nanako. “It’s supposed to be a break from stuff happening.”

Madnug was silent for some time. Then, he concluded. “A purposeful observation of a resting state. Interesting.”

“You could put it that way,” Nanako said.

“Captain Gundam suggested to me that I try to  initiate  a ‘conversation.’ You asked me this question earlier: what is it that you ‘do?’”

Nanako hadn’t been expecting that. She had to think a little bit about it. That was kind of deep. “Um, I have school lessons, but you knew that. I also do track sports and gymnastics. Sometimes I play games or spend time at the arcade. I have some tv shows I like. I’ll go into the city for window shopping I guess. Sometimes I fool around,” said Nanako. “I’m  just  a kid, so I don’t  really  ‘do’ anything.”

“But you did list your activities.”

“It’s not the same. Humans don’t start out good at fighting bad guys, doing science, stuff like that. I’m only thirteen years old.”

“I have only been operation for two days,” said Madnug. “And I have not yet completed any activity related to my function. It remains to  be seen  if I am ‘good’ at it, as well.”

He paused.

“And, while my deployment will include arsenal for self-defense, I have only a probationary permit to carry firearms. I am not authorized to use them on Neotopia.”

Nanako looked away from the view of the city again, where her eyes had wandered off to. “So no fighting bad guys. I guess that's why you  were asked  to stay here.”

“Correct. I must report and prepare for my assigned mission in 0700 hours. Peacekeeping is not one of my responsibilities.”

“What’s your mission?” Nanako asked. “I mean, if you can say.”

“The technical details  are classified  ,” said Madnug.  “In summary: I am to be a test pilot of an experimental research craft, propelled by space-warp technology to reach distant star systems.”

“You’re an astronaut! That’s awesome,” said Nanako. Then she felt a sting of panic. “How are you going to get back?”

“Dimensional Transport does not  require  two points between dimensions to be congruent. It is the same distance to transport to Lacroa from here as it would be from any point in our universe."

Nanako let out the breath she’d sucked in. “Oh, phew. You scared me for a second,” she said. “Do you think you could take a picture of space for me?”

Madnug considered this. “Yes, I could. I will add that to my objectives.”

“I’d love to hear about your adventures, when you get back.”

“Adventures…”

“You know, like a journey of discovery. With excitement and thrills and amazing new things.”

“I know the definition of the word,” said Madnug. “But I had not considered that my mission was an adventure. But, yes. It will be one.”

“Sorry,” said Nanako. Then she thought, looking up at those lonely stars. “Hey, Madnug?”

“Yes?”

“You’re a logical person, right?”

“To the best of my ability.”

“I know this sounds random, ok? But… what if you heard that something  really  bad was going to happen? But you didn’t know it until it happened? What would you do?”

Madnug took some time to think about this. “I would correct my actions in the future,” he said.

“What if… you should have known something bad was going to happen, and you didn’t do anything? If you could have stopped it, is it your fault?”

“I don’t understand. How ‘should’ one have known?”

“Ugh! I mean…” Nanako sighed. “You’re right. The first time, you don’t know any better. But you can’t let it happen again.”

“I assumed that the purpose of ‘hanging out’ was to observe absence of events and action, not simulate them,” said Madnug.

“Oops. See, you’re  really  good at this.”

\--

Nanako slept four hours that night. By the time she woke up, Madnug was already gone. She rose at her own alarm, turned it off, washed up and dressed for the day ahead.  She put on her best, most comfortable sneakers, her most durable leggings, her shorts with the cute overalls, and her favorite shirt. She tied her hair up with her two best, least-stretched-out hairbands. She even put her gymnastics grip gloves in her front pocket.

Then, she rummaged in the back of her closet and pulled out her important backpack. This was her very favorite backpack, not the one she put her homework in or used for trips. Still brand-new, saved for this kind of situation. She checked to make sure the batteries in everything still worked. And if the stash of emergency candy was still good.  She had breakfast, filled her water bottle from the refrigerator and packed her own lunch even before her mom came downstairs.

“Nanako? You’re already up?”

“M-hm. I’m heading out early today,” Nanako said.

Her mother yawned, hiding it behind one hand. “Well, make sure your homework  is done.”

“Did it last night ahead of time.”

“And your room is clean.”

“I made my bed and everything.”

“Your father could use a little of your get-up-and-go. He came in this morning and collapsed on the couch. Poor guy didn’t even make it upstairs."

Her mother leaned down and gave the top of Nanako’s blond head a kiss.

“I love you. Be good,” she said.

Nanako groaned. But that was  just  the sort of thing mothers did. “Love you too, mom. Bye! Tell dad I said bye to him, too.”

She waved. And ran down from her front door, down the road, toward the rail stop. There was something super weird about saying ‘bye’ to your mom before going off on a special mission. It made every other day you walked down that road and waved behind look like nothing. But that was silly.

Getting up way too early in the morning after staying up way too long at night messed up time and space and everything.

The sun was rising behind her when she made it to the rail stop. Then she climbed off the platform and began to run along the tracks. There wasn’t any way to ask a hoverrail to let her off someplace between stops. A few passed her by on the way into town, carrying the commuters and left only a wake of wind and dust. It mixed with the smell of bruised grass under her shoes.

After a while, she came to the abandoned depot. No one had changed the fence, or moved the fire escape ladder, or fixed the shutter she’d broken. It didn’t take long to put herself right back in her hidden nook on the upper level.

Now she had to wait.

And she did. She waited for a very long time. Enough time to watch the angle of light through the holes in the roof change. Dusty beams burst through the cracks when the sun got high enough.  There was enough time to count all the tarps and boxes and broken pieces of old non-AI trolleys still sitting around, and to wonder what Neotopia was like a decades ago. Enough time to do all her reading for her lessons twice.  She played games on her phone long enough for her to swap out to her first extra battery and begin recharging the original one in her shaking-powered charger.

Noon passed. Nanako ate the first half of her big sandwich and saved the rest for later. She began to think stuff like,

Do I actually have any proof they’d come back?

That robot said they’d want to talk again, but that doesn’t mean they’d meet here.

I’m  just  thinking so because I’m excited and I want to help.

What if they never show up? What if I’m in the wrong place?

But she also thought stuff like,

Stop that! You’re being cruel to yourself.

You’re working on the only clues you have and you’re doing your best.

You can’t give up!

If there’s even a chance they’ll come, you have to stay.

So Nanako stayed put. All day, into the evening. Even when it looked less and less likely the longer she waited.  And  just  when she thought everything felt like it was some kind of prank, the front depot door opened downstairs.  Three human beings walked inside again, with their sweater hoods drawn all the way up over their faces.

Nanako stayed still where she was.

Soon, the purple robot flew in through the hole in the roof. Their flight boosters lit the place up  brightly , almost too intense to look at. But as they touched down, Nanako could see the outlines of weapons installed on them.

She did her best to breathe  quietly.

“What action do you exchange for my help today, creatures?”

Nanako was sure that even if these were all bad guys, the humans were definitely bullied by this evil robot. She switched on the ‘record’ function on her phone.

“They won’t be calling for help. And with Zakos exploding in peace park, the SDG will be out of your way.”

“I doubt that will be completely true. But it will have to do.”

“We’ve done as you asked. When will you deliver the Hizacks?”

“You organics have such a distorted sense of time. But that is to  be expected  of temporary beings,” said the armed robot. “Do not fret, short-lived titans. You will have your resources soon.”

Nanako’s phone flashed and stopped her recording. She grit her teeth. The low battery warning!

“There is much to attend to first, before there’s time for a human’s joy-ride. I would look skyward tonight. And look here first, for the fate of an enemy.”

Nanako gasped and hid the light from her phone. The robot had turned to look up where she  was crouched. Something about its arms moved, a horrible claw opened to reveal a weapon inside. She grabbed her backpack and leaped out the window as fast as she could.

The explosion  just  as she landed hard on the ground outside confirmed it.  She’d spent enough time with Captain Gundam and Commander Sazabi and all sorts of special combat mobile citizens to know a grenade launcher when she saw one!

She forgot about her aching ankles. She vaulted the fence and ran.  A quick look behind her revealed that purple robot rising from the depot, searching for any surviving target. A hoverrail car zoomed past her. Nanako yelled, waved for it. It slowed down, but Nanako sped up. She sprinted with everything she had. A second grenade shot hit some distance away.  Maybe  when the car had passed before her, that robot had lost its target lock.

Nanako reached out and with all her strength leaped at the train. She slammed open the emergency door in the back and flung herself inside the cabin.

“Go! Go! Floor it!” she yelled. “Somebody with guns is chasing me!”

The hoverrail car sped up so  suddenly  that Nanako almost fell out the back door again. Clinging to one of the stanchions, she inched up the car to the front door.

“Are you alright, miss?” asked the railcar AI. It was a different AI than yesterday.

“I’m okay,” Nanako gasped. She fought back the urge to cry. She had to be brave! Shute had gotten shot at a bunch of times. When she’d set off in the morning, she’d already made up her mind about the risk.

Imaginary bad guys were different from real bad guys though. The carriage rumbled  dangerously , an explosion shattered transparent aluminum somewhere behind. “Ah! They hit us!”

“It’s nothing serious,” said the hoverrail. “ Just  the windows and the roof at the back of the cab. Your safety is more important than replaceable features.”

“Thanks. You’re a real hero...”

“Shucks, miss,” said the hoverrail. “Look: you’ll be safe soon.”

The hoverrail passed into the transit tunnel. The smell of melted metal and fumes grew stronger. There wasn’t any wind down here to blow away the smoke.  The hoverrail slowed, took a few turns that Nanako had never seen before:  probably  for employees only. Finally, she came to a stop deep under the hills outside Neotopia’s city. It was quiet here, save for the creak of other trains above and below.  Other transit workers ran up to the wounded hoverrail, yelling about how this could have happened.

Nanako disembarked as the mechanics rushed in a panic. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Number-five XJ,” said the hoverrail. “ Just  Exjay though.”

“Exjay, I’ll make sure that the SDG hears about what you did for me,” said Nanako. “Please take it easy. I have to go.”

“Good luck, miss!”

Nanako had to make a phone call. She juggled her backpack as she ran up the stairs, following the maintenance stop’s exit signs. She swapped out her phone’s battery, swore never to waste the charge on games ever again, and dialed her brother.

_“Nana? What’s up?”_

“Hey bro,” Nanako said between gasps. “Um, so you may have noticed a couple of grenades going off...”


	4. His Name is Madnug (Part 3)

A gunperry met Nanako at the surface and immediately took her to Blanc Base. She’d been there before, but only at a fancy party when she was little. This was where her brother worked. She almost forgot to close her mouth when it emerged from behind cloud cover. Then after she disembarked she was  politely  led through the courtyard area, to an upper level.

She didn’t meet her brother there.  As soon as she’d sent the audio file and explained what she’d seen, he and Captain Gundam had been immediately deployed. She’d told the story to a series of officers, each of which led her to the next serious-looking person in line. Until finally, she came to a big elevator at the apex of the base.

Nanako was glad it was her mother’s friend Juli that was helping her around now.  She’d always wanted to finally come for real to the SDG base, but now that she was here it was a lot more overwhelming than she expected. “Sorry, but where are we going? How is there an elevator up if this is the top?”

“Actually, Blanc Base is only one of several units,” explained Juli. “The last person that I’m afraid you’re going to have to talk to isn’t here right now.”

“Huh?”

They got into the elevator. But it wasn’t an elevator. It was some kind of shuttle that docked with the base. Nanako watched through the tiny windows as the world grew even smaller under her. A glassy rim over the planet twinkled into existence as the sky grew darker, and darker. Until it wasn’t the sky anymore and the ground below wasn’t ground but the planet. A lonely flagship emerged out of the glare. It hung in orbit like a mote of dust.

“That’s the Gundamusai,” said Juli. “I’m sure you’ve heard all about it.”

“Sometimes,” said Nanako. “I don’t ask a lot about classified stuff though.”

“Oh, this isn’t such a big secret,” said Juli. “It’s been up here for a few months now.  Just  exploring our own galaxy is as big a task as exploring whole other dimensions.”

“So that’s Madnug’s job,” Nanako said.

“Sort of. Covering such enormous distances can take hundreds of years.  So the SDG has been developing a spacejump system that can work together with dimensional transport to travel  extremely  far away more easily.”

“Cool,” Nanako said. “But… why am I here?”

“It’s a secure area,” said Juli. “And someone here wants to be sure that you are very secure.”

“ I think  I know who,” Nanako said.

The transport pod docked into the Gundamusai’s forward bay. The double airlock doors hissed and finally opened. Moving around was light and sticky. The circulated air had a note of plastic or aerosol in it. Nanako guessed that the temperature was a perfect 20°C.

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to leave you here and go back down. The Commander gave orders that only you  were permitted  to board.” said Juli. “He’s in the upper level.”

She said this while rolling her eyes. Nanako thanked her.  She took weird, too-wide steps in the simulated gravity, sometimes bouncing along where she could. She felt like she  was made  of tissue paper. She didn’t climb up to the observation deck as much as try to wade to the correct elevators.

Workers on the great battleship, mostly Zakos, saluted when she passed by. They’d probably been ordered to do that. Nanako rolled her eyes too. The main elevator beeped for every deck level until it reached the control room. The doors opened.

A  truly  imposing robot stood before the bow viewscreens. He  was painted  an aggressive crimson and was a third again taller than a grown human, and broader than three. His extensive rocket thrusters made him look even bigger.  If he had deployed his six free-flying laser funnels, he could have filled the whole room with his presence. Every suggestible surface bore some decal noting his rank.

“Sazabi!”

Nanako ran right up to him and, to all subordinates’ horror, hugged one of his huge arms.

“It’s been like, six months.”

Commander Sazabi… tolerated this.  It was  fairly  common knowledge that no one, no one else  was permitted  to display such behavior towards him.  Nanako Ray, though, had the unfortunate circumstance of first coming in contact with the Commander in her early childhood. Being a human with imprinting behaviors, she couldn’t help herself. It would be far too much work to train her to act otherwise.

Or, that was the gist of his grumpy grumbles.

“I have been directing a critical and delicate project,” said Sazabi  sharply. “One incompatible with your usual antics.”

Nanako let go of his arm and felt her heart drop somewhere into her sneakers. He usually was happy to see her, in his own way. He sounded angry now. Well, he always sounded a little angry, but he didn’t really mean it. He _felt_ angry to her.

“But today has not been your usual antics,” he said. “Nana, you will tell me everything.”

“Okay,” Nanako said. “It… started yesterday, after my track meet.  I was taking the rail home and… it broke down, and I walked the rest of the way, and I… overheard some kind of secret meeting in an old depot. But I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t think anything about it until it was too late. Until later I saw on the news that Neotopia Tower exploded, and there were… people got hurt. They were talking about setting up that attack.”

“Who are ‘they?’”

“There were three humans and one robot. They hid their faces, but  I think  the humans are from around here. The robot wasn’t. And it didn’t look Axian, either. It was big, purple, and could  fly  pretty fast. And it’s armed.”

Nanako paused. “Sazabi, the humans were doing whatever that robot told them to in exchange for its help. But like… it was zakos that blew up. Do you…?”

“No,” Sazabi said. “But I will find out what they want with my own.”

Nanako sighed.  Maybe  he felt like he’d failed to protect other people too. “Anyway… I went back to the depot today, in case they met again. And they did. And I got the recording, and I got shot at, and I got away thanks to a train, and here I am.”

“Despite your best efforts,” Sazabi scolded.

Nanako looked at her shoes.

“You should have reported the situation. There was no need for any other course of action.”

“It was stupid,” Nanako conceded. “I  just  thought…”

“What did you think?” Sazabi said.

“After I… I  just  thought it was my responsibility to do everything I could to help,” Nanako said.

“It is my responsibility,” said Sazabi. “You have no responsibilities.”

“That’s not true!” said Nanako. “I’m not going to sit here and do nothing because I don’t have to do the right thing!”

“Then you should have told me!”

“I know!” Nanako grit her teeth. “I know. I messed up.”

She looked up at him, how he loomed over her. All the robots present were staring at this with some degree of fear. Nanako was not scared for the same reason everybody else was.

“So I’ll tell you right now. There was more stuff that the robot said, that I didn’t get on recording. Yesterday, they said something like ‘look to Neotopia Tower’ and I didn’t know what they meant until it was too late. Today they said, “look to the sky.’”

Sazabi was not a robot that had an expression set that could frown, or scowl, or make any kind of face at her at all except his normal one. But Nanako could feel a sort of wave rolling off of him, a furious concern. Not actual panic. He was  probably  thinking the same thing she was.

“I don’t have any proof, and I don’t know if it  really  means this, but I’m scared for Madnug,” Nanako said. “Whoever they were, they talked about the other attacks like they were a distraction! You have to cancel his test flight.”

“No,” said Sazabi.

“What do you mean, ‘no?’” Nanako said. “So long as these creeps are planning to blow something out of the sky, he’s not safe!”

“I have already delayed this event once,” said Sazabi. “Believe me, if I could prevent it  indefinitely, I would. But some things are beyond even my power.”

“That doesn’t even make sense! What kind of crappy reason is that?”

Sazabi was shaking with anger. But Nanako was too. It didn’t  really  matter.

“Don’t be troublesome,” Sazabi said. “It’s useless to explain if you’d never understand. Madnug is not your concern.”

“Well, I am concerned! It’s not like you to blow me off like this. I can understand anything!”

Sazabi groaned. “Fine! You stubborn pest! Madnug’s flight is a time paradox, and if it doesn’t proceed there will be consequences.”

“See! I understand that fine,” Nanako lied. “But have you told Madnug that? Did you give him any choice about it? Is he even going to know that he’s in danger?”

“He won’t be,” Sazabi promised  menacingly. He was heavy enough to walk  normally  in the artificial gravity and ducked into the elevator. He didn’t shoot a look back. Soon he was gone to some other level of the compound.

About a minute later, Nanako saw a red streak cross the bow window, twinkle into the starscape to keep watch over a distant, painstakingly-positioned array of equipment.

So that was it, then. Here she was. Being kept ‘safe.’ Stuck on a spaceship out of the way while things played out. Everything was out of her hands now.  Maybe  Captain Gundam and her brother could keep Neotopia safe below.  Maybe  Sazabi could make sure nothing bad happened to Madnug. But that was all a bunch of chances that she had no clue about.

She stomped her foot. That wasn’t good enough! There was one way to guarantee that Madnug was safe no matter what!

Nanako hated it when her friends were wrong. And she hated arguing with them most of all. But she’d already made up her mind.

\--

Foolish, ignorant, insolent _brat_!

Who did she think she was?

But the answer was obvious to Sazabi. He regretted every instance where he’d told her to hold her ground against opposition. He’d not considered one day she’d turn her will against _him_!

Then again, Keiko had once said something about a human child’s ‘rebellious phase.’

He would have cursed out loud but the airless vacuum of space made it futile. And he  certainly  wasn’t going to connect to a communication frequency  just  to vent. The few he’d dial for such a purpose he was either furious with or  cautiously  avoiding.

(Keiko would not find her daughter in a safer place than the Gundamusai, but he did not relish trying to assert this to a human ‘mother.’)

The jump array was in order. The operation was scheduled to begin in one hour. Sazabi saw the test craft fly automatically up to the starting position. There it would go through meticulous diagnostics and wait for its pilot, who would enter the craft via shuttle pod a few minutes before launch. Everything was set up to provide as narrow a window for anomaly as possible.

In one hour, everything would  be resolved.

And as he waited, alone and suspended in space, Sazabi clenched his metal fists. What would the nosy child think if she  really  knew? She would not be so quick to defend _Gerbera_. That the mech had to  be made  was bad enough.

Being around that unit made some of his components ache. There were taunts that even now he could not forget. Gerbera’s same voice. Different tone, different words. But the same voice. How to reconcile that this robot, not even three days operational, had once made him? Had once assembled him from the raw element of Axia, grandest and greatest asset of an army?

Gerbera had been the one long ago to install a dark, dormant soul drive inside his core. There it sat for centuries of conquest.

Ultimately, nothing more than a useless globe withering behind his chestplate.

Gerbera should have feared the power he’d mounted inside of a Commander.  That his systems one day could  truly  integrate it, that a force could kindle inside until it permeated his circuits and his servos and his very processor.

Gerbera could not have known what it felt like to have _this_.

Yet hadn’t he watched them install one inside Madnug himself?  The very same one that  surely  existed in his creator, though in the past Sazabi hadn’t been keen enough to recognize its effects.  Just  as similar as the voice, the way Madnug moved, the calculation of his gaze. Behind a facade or otherwise.

It was a joke. To feel that weak presence reaching out for guidance and contact. The thing was a black hole. Is. Could be.

The shuttle pod was rising up to deliver the pilot. Sazabi made one final check of his own around the perimeter apparatus. The forward stabilizers. The acceleration rings. The alignment of them all.  Factor after painstaking factor, until he was sure that whatever had gone wrong before was impossible.

That was when he saw there was a small purple speck on the back side of one of the units. A jolt ran across his frame. He had to press using the brat’s comm frequency out of his mind. In fact, he deprioritized all communications. There was time to tell her after this  was resolved. There was someone tampering with his efforts.

Firing in the direction of the ring unit was idiocy. But the speck noticed Sazabi’s approach for melee. And after lagging acceleration vanished into the dark.

But not far enough.  Apparently  no one had told them the range of Sazabi’s own sensors. And so he did not need to  directly  track their movements while he deployed his six remote funnels.

He didn’t get to use them often these days. It was… nostalgic. Only a few seconds elapsed before he had a straight shot. Funnels Five and Two shot the bogey right out of its flight path. It… changed, from an aerial unit to a more familiar biped configuration. Multi-modal forms were tacky.

As he closed in there was a curious instant, why it didn’t dodge out of the way.  Perhaps  it wasn’t fast enough. If it was clocking top speed a moment ago, it still fell far short of Sazabi himself.

An alert went off in the back of his cognition. That was the launch countdown. there was no more spare time. Sazabi approached closer, training  all of  his weaponry on this interruption. Yet it stood still, weathering even the worst.

The energy output was unreal. It was charging something.

Sazabi banked hard.

The largest particle blast that Sazabi had ever seen missed him by yards. Three of his funnels cut connection as they  were atomized. The heat was intense, he felt his sinks struggling to keep up with the radiation. It made his articulation ache. Sazabi was more offended than he was jealous.

There were no explosions in space. But the flash of light behind him indicated that the beam had hit something.

One of the rings sparked and  dangerously  flickered. The countdown was running spare and Sazabi was watching a shuttle crash in motion.

RAIMI bypassed his priority list.

_Commander Sazabi, location of Nanako Ray has been lost. I am sorry, no data exists on how she bypassed my surveillance. She cannot  be found  aboard the Gundamusai. Please update her status as soon as possible._

\--

The airlock door inside the test spacecraft finally opened up, and Madnug finally boarded.

And also, Nanako was there.

“Hey, sorry, this is super weird,” she said. “But there’s  really  no time and I have to talk to you.”

Madnug stared at her. She was impeding his mission. But why?

“How are you here?” he asked, and  genuinely  wanted to know.

“Long story, an orange box is in it, and it’s not that important,” said Nanako. “I have to convince you to cancel your mission.”

“But this mission is my primary  objective,” said Madnug. “I  was constructed  to undertake it.”

“I know, but there’s always more time. Space isn’t going away.” Nanako tried to think how to explain everything as fast as possible. “There were some more bomb threats in Neotopia. One of them mentioned something about an attack in the sky. I don’t want them to hit you!”

Madnug heard the airlock snap shut behind him. While the boarding pod fell away, a launch countdown began.

**10**

He walked to the console and authenticated.

“Madnug?”

**9**

“I am attempting to abort launch,” said Madnug.

**8**

“Please hurry!”

**7**

“I am,” said Madnug.

**6**

The command  was denied.

“Is something wrong?”

**5**

“I don’t have the authorization to abort the mission.”

**4**

“Spoof it!”

**3**

“I tried. No such level of authorization exists.”

**2**

“Why would they design something like that?!”

**1**

“To remove chance of error,” Madnug said. He sounded upset.

**0**

“I’m going to be an astronaut,” said Nanako.

\--

Sazabi intercepted the launch course. Only the eighth ring in the assemblage  was damaged. If he could knock the craft out of bounds…!

But even the fastest mech in the sky could not match spacejump acceleration. From the beginning, that bare nanosecond, it was a race Sazabi would lose.

But that was not a loss he was willing to accept. His cry of desperation raced forward, transcending the speed of light. The Gundamusai quaked. Satellites would fall from the sky.

\--

There were some things in life that felt like a test. That you’d forgotten to study for. And then got placed in front of you. And you didn’t know what you were looking at. And you didn’t know what to do.

And there wasn’t any time to waste with questions like, ‘should I  be prepared  for this?’

Because the test was in front of you. The answer was  just  Yes.

Not  being prepared  was not an option. It wasn’t. It didn’t matter if you thought you were ready. You had to do it or else.

(You won't die, said Nanako. Never think ‘die.’)

That was why when she saw the flashing warning messages, the overloading console, felt the rocking of an  obviously  damaged ship, she had to  be prepared. For all her efforts to fail. For someone to have blown them up anyway. For the worst of the worst to happen.

But she didn’t have to accept it.

She dragged herself forward, fighting the burns over her arms. The cabin was heating up. She reached out to touch Madnug’s plating, feeling the shock course through her body. She held on anyway.

“Madnug!” She fought through her tears. “It’s going to be okay!”

“Impossible!”

“No! We’re going to be fine!” Nanako clenched her eyes shut. “I know it!”

A tremor shook the spacecraft. Madnug pitched forward, clutching his chest. Nanako went with him, refused to let go.

“Whatever happens,” she said. “ _I’m never giving up on you_!”

\--

Sazabi  was thrown  backwards. To the planet below, a sun burst at night. It left only negative space in its wake.

\--

_“Thank you.”_

\--

Sazabi resolved his photoreceptors and searched for that experimental spacecraft. But it was gone. His best friend. And his worst enemy.

Both gone.

It did not matter that the saboteur had vanished.  Sazabi accelerated along the line of rings, faster, faster than he had ever pushed himself before and flung himself into space. Away from the planet’s glow. Father than he had ever traveled beyond the inevitable pull of orbit.

But it was no use.

He could not reach them.

He did not notice that his heat sinks were  perfectly  cool, or how his radiation scalding was gone. Or that his three lost funnels had somehow re-entered existence.  Or that the last time he had felt this anticipative wrongness was the day that Captain Gundam had spared his life.

Commander Sazabi could not call out and  be heard. He fired every weapon in his arsenal until their power ran dry and he could not bear to cry anymore.


	5. Thread— What the heck was that???

 

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What the heck was that???

1

Chiaxx

ya girl

| 

What the heck was that???

Posted 4-21-298 at 3:22 AM

I don't know if anybody is awake but something happened outside and I missed it? I was in recharge when this ridiculously scary feedback hit me, right in the head and woke me up. People are outside on the terrace with cameras trying to catch it again but I don't know what happened. What's going on???

Have you hugged your Nega Robo stan today?  
  
---|---  
  
CandiKane

MalaNega Official

| 

Re: What the heck was that???

Posted 4-21-298 at 3:25 AM

Im not supposed to be awake but my dad almost called the hospital. Are you ok?? Whatever it was sounded like it hurt a lot.  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: What the heck was that???

Posted 4-21-298 at 3:25 AM

The Commander is furious. The whole network is freaked out. Something bad must have happened.

zako.  
  
Chiaxx

ya girl

| 

Re: What the heck was that???

Posted 4-21-298 at 3:27 AM

> CandiKane
> 
> Are you ok??

I'm ok. It's fading. It just scared me.

Have you hugged your Nega Robo stan today?  
  
CamV

| 

Re: What the heck was that???

Posted 4-21-298 at 3:40 AM

guys the news is going to be so weird tomorrow 

Cam is a boys' AND girls name!! Fanart   
  
1


	6. Lost?! Travelers in The Dark

Time and space were messed up when you got up too early after staying up too late. Nanako heard her ‘early wake up’ alarm go off and thought she had fallen out of bed. Only when she tried to find her phone and literally floated away did she realize something was wrong.

She remembered.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “I’m in outer space.”

And that was glossing over details like, “I’m alive, in space.” And “I’m alive _and_ okay in space.” And “I’m still inside the spaceship in space.” And “the spaceship has lights on in it and there’s air and everything.”

Which were fairly important details. But Nanako Ray was the most recent 13 year old in outer space.

“Madnug! I think we made it! We made it to space!” She waved her arms in the antigravity.

But there was no sound in the cabin but the dull hum of electronics. She tried to look over her shoulder only to float the complete wrong way. She collided gently with a panel, and used it to brace herself and turn around.

Madnug lay against the back wall of the cabin. Maybe he had some magnetic parts that helped to stick him to the ground. He wasn’t moving.

Nanako pushed off the surface and floated up to him. “Hey,” she whispered. “Are you…?”

His head weighed a lot less than it should have on Neotopia. She sort of grabbed onto him, pulled herself down and pushed it up so she could see.

There were still lights on in his eyes, he wasn’t inoperable. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he didn’t seem to be looking at anything, and his ocular display was flickering, and he was unresponsive. Nanako hadn’t seen anything like it before. She didn’t have anywhere near her brother’s level of skill in fixing machines. It reminded her of when her old phone would glitch out: the screen would stay frozen forever and the audio would repeat the same two seconds until she turned it off.

“Come on, Madnug,” she said. She wondered why she wasn’t burned or hurt. She hadn’t imagined _that_. “Snap out of it!”

That didn’t work when her phone was on the fritz, so it wasn’t like it was going to work for Madnug, either.

“Well, um,” she mumbled. “Is it like… a seizure? Should I leave you alone?”

That didn’t seem to do anything either. She pulled herself down beside Madnug and put her arm around his immobile frame. It’s what she would have wanted if she were having some kind of breakdown. “Take your time,” she assured him. “I’ll be here.”

\--

It was a really bad day to be Omar Bellwood.

Oh, sure. He may have been the leading name in inter-dimensional travel and theoretical space warping technology. In the entire known multiverse. And definitely! He may have been the most handsome heartthrob on the SDG’s R&D payroll. With the best spot on the calendar no less.

But it was a _really_ bad day to be Omar Bellwood.

He could see some kind of targeted sabotage at lab C. That was where the biggest, most impressive, least-experimental of his Dimensional Transport Device models. That one carried civilians these days! It worked well and _had_ been working for over a decade. It was a symbol of Neotopian communication and goodwill within the greater multiverse.

But they didn’t just hit C. They hit all the DTDs in operation or development. They hit Lab L, the ID-Gen 2 test site, and even the comms-only model at Neotopia City Hall. Without these, the relay link aboard the Gundamusai couldn’t work. Any citizens abroad were stranded. The all-hours diplomatic channel was cut off. And from the other side, it’d look like Neotopia had basically ‘hung up.’

Then Captain Gundam and Shute had arrived.

“I told you two! Get that powder keg out of my workspace! It’s kind of hard to concentrate with Mr. _War Crimes_ breathing down my neck.”

Bellwood could take Captain Gundam and Shute. But they’d showed up to restrain Commander McFreakin’ Sazabi.

“Replicate the test conditions _at once_!” yelled the two-and-a-half-meter-tall walking gunshow. “If I am not after that spacecraft in the next ten minutes I—!”

“Sazabi! I’m sure Bellwood is doing all he can to resolve the problem!”

“Please, calm down!”

“Calm down? **CALM… DOWN?** I could have killed you years ago, human, and I ought to kill you right now!”

He’d thought Bakunetusmaru was bad. What was it with robots that painted red that made them this way? Was it like skunk stripes? Stay back! I’ll ruin your day!

“Listen, it’s pretty _hard_ to recalibrate a quantum jump for unknown coordinates. That was half the point in Madnug making the leap. To drop a beacon to go back to the same place and all.”

“Life will not be _hard_ for you, Bellwood!” Sazabi snarled. “It will be _impossible_!”

Shute was sitting on the blast-lined box that Sazabi’s funnels were contained in. “Sazabi, if you don’t call it off right now, I’ll call my mom.”

“Wonderful! _She_ can destroy this human for me!”

“You can be the one to tell her that you let my sister blast off into space,” Shute added.

Ouch. The kid packed the heavy weapons. Sazabi froze. Then he threw Captain Gundam off. “Ha! As if _anything_ could stop you when all you had was _roller skates_ ,” he grumbled. Then he marched off some ways away. And proceeded to obliterate a distant boulder.

“Hey! If you fire that crap anywhere near my Dimensional Transport Device, I’m doing nothing for you!”

Bellwood rubbed his temples and continued trying to run the test flight dump through his processing program. It was four in the morning and there was more data in front of him than he wanted to see at four in the morning.

“I’m sorry about your sister, Shute, but I guess I have some good news,” Bellwood said. “Looks like the test got off without a hitch. She should be fine. I mean, like a few light years away, but fine.”

“What? How?” Shute almost got up from the box, only to remember he was holding it shut. “I mean, that’s great! Better than… the worst.”

“Sazabi! Bellwood says that Madnug and Nanako are probably alive,” said Captain Gundam. “Cease firing, or I will be forced to report your weapon misuse.”

Commander Sazabi was displeased. But that was an upgrade from ‘murderous.’ Enough of an upgrade to begin stomping over again. Damn it.

“The weird part is that I've got two sets of data back. I only set it up to return one,” said Bellwood. "But at least nobody's goose got cooked.”

“Hey, please don’t talk about people’s lives at risk that way,” Shute said. “Don’t say my sister died in another universe.”

“Well, here’s some news for you, kid: everyone’s dead in another universe. But it doesn’t matter because that’s not the timeline we’re in.”

“Are there any discrepancies between the data sets?” asked Captain Gundam warily.

“I have to look closely. The universe is already thin up there from breaking the loop. We're lucky it didn't snap right back the way it was before we delayed the test.”

Captain Gundam bowed his head.

Bellwood’s phone beeped as Commander Sazabi managed to make it back to the Lab C repair station. Kao Lyn, just great. “Hold on a sec, I have to take this,” Bell Wood said.

Commander Sazabi loomed over him. “Yeah, m-hm,” said Bell Wood.

Shute looked at Captain. Captain looked back and shrugged.

“Yeah. Okay. _Really_? Wow.”

Sazabi vibrated like a furious idling truck.

“Yeah, thanks. Got to go. Keep me posted.” And the physicist extraordinaire had to mentally prepare himself for what would happen after he hung up.

“Bellwood! Y—”

“So did you know that your soul drive went off up there or what?” Bellwood interrupted.

“I don’t see how that—”

“And probably set off some kind of freaky chain reaction with Nanako around?” said Bellwood. “Madnug’s went off too.”

“I felt it,” added Captain. “Commander Sazabi’s at least. I… can understand your feelings. I care for Nanako, too. But if it had been Shute aboard that ship, I would not have been in any less pain.”

Bellwood kicked the rigged-up emergency console. “You’re telling me you felt that all the way down here? That space-time disturbance happened in _orbit_! Just what I need! You want to hear my newest theory? Madnug popped an ollie over quantum probability and fucked us off to a completely different present!”

“I don’t know, but Zeong had a giant soul drive, and he could break space,” suggested Shute.

It was a _very_ bad day to be Omar Bellwood. He screamed at the dark sky and faraway stars.

“Madnug! You little punk! I was about to publish a thesis on this! Now I can’t even figure out what the hell you did because my stuff got blown up!”

“I see how it is,” Sazabi grumbled. “When I do it, I’m a menace. When he does it, he’s a technical officer.”

“Screw this! I’m going to bed!”

\--

“Please use the dimensional transport device! I want to go to Lacroa!” Nanako said. But after a few tries, it was pretty clear that this ship didn’t have an AI of its own.

“Come on, what’s the password?” she mumbled, trying to navigate the interface. It wasn't like a standard console with a command line she could cheat open. “Password? 123? SDGundamRules? No? What about with a Z on the end?”

Something moved within the shuttle. “Aha! Yes!”

**> >Security attempt limit exceeded. Authenticated user required to unlock.**

The console shut off and the upper hull of the craft opened up to reveal transparent, insulated aluminum and a perfect view of a billion exotic stars. Apparently this was a part of the flight mode being disabled.

Pieces of rubble and metal floated around her. But they didn’t seem to be wreckage from this single ship.

“So I’m not the first girl in space,” she mumbled. “The view’s pretty though.”

Madnug didn’t say anything. He was still frozen to her.

“If you don’t wake up, we can’t go anywhere,” Nanako said. “Come on! I don’t want to get out and push!”

Shaking him around caused her to start floating towards the ceiling. Floor? Down and up were pretty fake in zero gravity. She sort of tried to swim back towards the surface. When that didn't work she used the strap of her backpack to hook onto Madnug’s foot and pull herself in.

“Okay, have I tried turning you on and off again?” she mumbled. But after a solid twenty minutes of searching, there was no reset switch or button or anything at all to be found.

“You’re not overheated or anything?” Nanako paused. If he was, or if this space ship wasn’t shielded from cosmic radiation, or whatever… well, melting like ice cream didn't sound like fun “Nah.”

She pulled out her phone and tried to Gelgoogle ‘how to reboot robot’.

Then she tried ‘how to reboot robot in space’.

But then she realized that of course there was no reception in outer space. She threw her phone against the wall. It bounced off, floated back at another wall, bounced more gently until it finally came to a rest with a tiny _doink_.

“This isn’t funny anymore!” she yelled, surprising herself. “Snap out of it right now!”

Madnug did nothing. Nanako pushed herself all the way to the opposite wall and balled herself, bent her knees.

“You’re my friend, and I don’t want to do this,” she said. “But I care about you and you leave me no choice!”

She sprang off hard and fast. “I’ll knock sense back into you! _Neo stardust kick_!”

Nanako’s sneaker collided with Madnug’s faceplate. He sort of wobbled where he sat stuck to the surface. Nanako recoiled into a tight ball and rubbed her sore ankle. “Ouch!”

The force had made her bounce away again. She hung in space and reflected on her bad decisions in life. “Okay, you’re right,” she admitted. “Violence isn’t the answer.”

She crawled back along the wall to Madnug and ‘sat’ beside him. Her pigtails floated in her face for a second while she thought of something, _anything_ that might help.

“Shute said to me that one time Captain Gundam had this kind of problem too. And this is crazy, but bear with me here.”

She turned around and kind of squinted a bit, and placed a nice kiss over where she’d scuffed Madnug’s faceplate. “All better,” she said.

Nothing happened though.

“Oh, come on!” she groaned. “I bet my knucklehead brother chickened out. Boys are so wimpy!”

Nanako opened her backpack dejectedly. She had to tamp everything inside down to keep it from flying away. “I’m taking a break,” she said, and pulled out the other half of her sandwich. “I’m starving.”

She paused.

“If I eat this, are crumbs going to go everywhere and catch on fire in the ventilation system?” she asked. Then her stomach rumbled. “Well, whatever.”

She chewed each bite for a long time, looking up into the vista beyond the cabin.

“I guess we’re hanging out again,” she said quietly. Swallowed her food. “You’re still really good at it.”

Madnug was silent.

“We have time now. You want to know how I got on board? Well, I went to the bathroom, and then I found the vent shaft on the ceiling and climbed on top of the toilet to get in. Then I followed the AC to the hangar bay. They’ve got all kinds of equipment there that have to be kept cool, you know?"

She cringed hearing herself babble. But she couldn't stop, it was too quiet. "Don’t tell anybody the secret, but it’s actually super easy to fool AI watching security cameras. The more cameras there are to watch at once, the worse they are at looking at any single one— just like humans. That’s why you gundams only have two eyes like we do. Sazabi’s might be good at watching stuff. He’s got only one.”

Nanako took another bite of her sandwich.

“Anyway, they all depend on you tripping up a bunch of other sensors to pick which cameras to watch. And the Gundamusai is a lot. Because there’s no humans on board it’s not like RAIMI would be looking at the bathroom. Robots don’t use the bathroom.”

Hopefully Madnug wouldn’t mind her talking with her mouth full.

“So I dropped down into the supply closet, and can you believe there was like, this ancient empty orange box in there? And zakos recognize figures primarily based on shape. So I snuck out of there and aboard this pod under the box and they didn’t think anything. And neither did the ship? I wasn’t expecting that to work. But here I am.”

She finished her sandwich and rolled the paper into a ball and stuffed the trash back in her bag.

“Here we are,” she said.

Nanako stayed there beside him, with one arm wrapped around his metal pauldron to keep close by. She didn’t say anything more for what felt like a long time. She watched the cosmos stay still.

“I wonder if you can even see it,” she muttered at last. “The big endless void is kind of creeping me out. But I guess we can count the stars to pass the time?”

Of course he didn’t say anything back.

“Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life?”

She had only half a bottle of water left. “I’m gonna try to save my emergency candy,” she whispered. “What if I need it later?”

(Never think ‘die’)

But there was the concept of missing a ‘later.’ She couldn’t help herself. She felt that awful welling-up in her eyes. There wouldn’t be seeing anyone later. Not her mom or dad. Not her brother Shute. Or Captain Gundam, or Sazabi, or even Zero or Bakunetsumaru. She’d never see them visit ever again. And they would stand around wondering how she could do something like this. Asking why? Why’d she do this to herself?

“I did this for you, Madnug,” she cried. “So please don’t leave me alone out here!”

Nanako pressed her face to the robot’s faintly warm exterior. She could hear his quiet hum, his living computer. She sniffled there until she had to drink the rest of her water bottle to make up the difference. The tear drops floated in the cabin freely.

Then she laughed.

“It hasn’t even been a day yet and I’m going bonkers. I’m a terrible astronaut.”

She wiped her hands on her overalls.

“You know, I was kind of a timid little kid. I used to get lonely all the time,” Nanako said quietly. “I wouldn’t eat or sleep or anything. But even a little while seems like forever when you’re a human and three years old.”

Nanako looked back up at the endless view again.

“I can’t help but be reminded of my dad? He could get me to calm down and go to bed. He always used to sing this really ancient song. Like, really _really_ ancient. I think it was by some lady in the time before Neotopia existed. Old world stuff.”

She shrugged.

“And I know that my dad’s a musician and he should have written his own song, but I guess that’s too much effort in the middle of the night when your kid is crying.” Nanako explained. “I’m not as good with music as my dad is. But here goes. Let’s see if I remember all of it.”

In a small voice, amidst the silence of space and the cradle’s hum of the lonesome craft, Nanako sang,

_“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,_  
_How I wonder what you are!_  
_Up above the world so high,_  
_Like a diamond in the sky.”_

_“When the blazing sun is gone,_  
_When he nothing shines upon,_  
_Then you show your little light,_  
_Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.”_

_“Then the traveler in the dark_  
_Thanks you for your tiny sparks;_  
_He could not see which way to go,_  
_If you did not twinkle so.”_

_“In the dark blue sky you keep,_  
_And often through my curtains peep,_  
_For you never shut your eye_  
_Till the sun is in the sky.”_

_“As your bright and tiny spark_  
_Lights the traveler in the dark,_  
_Though I know not what you are,_  
_Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”_

Nanako wiped away her tears again, but they were a different kind. She couldn’t help but feeling how she felt when she was little. A slow, cautious noise hushed against the insulated walls. She looked over Madnug’s plating. He hadn’t woken up. But what had moved?

A heavily armored compartment in his chestplate had unlatched itself and flipped forward. Suspended inside and between stabilizing rings was a delicate orb, crystal or glass or something finer than both.

She’d seen one of these before. Sazabi had one. Captain, too.

“That’s your soul drive,” Nanako said. Then she waited. “That’s something at least.”

But she didn’t know what to do with it. It wasn't like Sazabi’s that she’d seen before. His was so fierce you almost couldn’t look at it. This one was barely lit, tiny refractions within almost overpowered by the cold cabin lighting.

“What do you want me to do?” Nanako asked. Madnug’s optical display was as jumbled as before. And he didn’t speak, or move. The way Sazabi had talked about his own, the soul drive was intensely personal. Nanako felt a little worried about Madnug.

She reached out towards it. Her hands were trembling. She worried about greasy fingerprints for a minute. Her heart was slugging in her ears. Then she stopped being such a baby and touched it.

She couldn’t tell much of anything for a few seconds. A spark inside licked along the glass under her fingertips. Its warmth grew, until she could feel it trying to match her own heartbeat. A rhythm, like breathing.

Madnug’s display quietly shut off, went dark. Then the obvious slow pulse of a recharge from depletion, or a reboot.

Thank goodness. Now she could stop worrying.

Nanako yawned. The atmosphere had gotten weirdly heavy. “I’m tired, too. See you in a while, okay?”

There was nowhere to lay down. She was weightless anyway. So instead she looped one of her backpack straps around her arm, and hooked the other one on Madnug, and closed her eyes.


	7. Trouble in the Royal Court

She must have been really knocked-out, because the next thing Nanako knew, Madnug was holding her in a protective position and bracing her head.

“Huh? What’s…?”

“I am back online. We have achieved dimensional jump. Currently we are at cruising altitude over Lacroa.”

“Why’m I balled up like this?”

“Ah. We have just lost cruising altitude,” Madnug added. “Standard impact procedure.”

“We’re crashing!”

“Nanako, please remain calm,” Madnug said coolly. “Oxygen depletion will be exacerbated by panic or superfluous breathing.”

“ _Superfluous breathing_? I need air to live!”

“Yes,” said Madnug. “That prioritizes an unscheduled landing.”

Nanako tried not to be tense. A space ship was a terrible thing to invent without seatbelts.

The crash came in a couple stages. First, the jolt. Then the shaking. Then the rumbling screech as the world turned right-side up and gravity worked again. It ended with ugly heat, and the total stillness as Nanako tried to keep her stomach. Madnug walked up a slight incline to the rear pod door. The airlock opened and Nanako felt a mild breeze hit her skin. She inhaled reflexively.

Oh.

She hadn’t noticed how lightheaded she’d become.

They emerged somewhere in what should have been a pre-dawn forest clearing. Now filled by an ugly streak of flaming dirt and crumbled rock. The smoke smelled awful, even if the wreck didn’t look dangerous in its own firelight. “Could you put me down, please?” Nanako said. She’d been physically moved around before by robots, but it was a little more intuitive when Sazabi did it. Madnug was about her same height, but still had the strength to carry her like an oversized stuffed toy.

“Of course. I apologize.”

He gently tilted her until her feet were on the ground. Nanako wobbled a bit until she got her gravity legs back. “Hold-on-I’ll-be-right-back,” she stammered, and dashed for the nearest thick stand of bushes. At least she’d remembered to use the bathroom before boarding the space ship, too.

When she returned, she found Madnug cutting into one of the cooler sections of the spacecraft’s plating. The sparks illuminated his stark white frame. It sort of made sense for a science robot to have a laser cutter installed into one of his forearms. If he had to do some kind of examination. She’d brought her pocket knife in her adventure backpack too.

“What’cha doing?” she asked.

“I must reach the black box manually,” said Madnug. “Otherwise, the data will be lost.”

“You’d think it’d be easier to get at.”

“This craft was never intended to make atmospheric re-entry. It is fortunate that we managed to skip that part.”

“But I thought you _were supposed_ to go to Lacroa. You can’t have planned on crashing.”

“I can only hypothesize that the homing beacon routed through Lacroa is somehow inoperable. This craft’s state-of-the-art miniature dimensional transport device easily made the jump, but lacked precise guidance.”

“No kidding,” Nanako mumbled. Then she watched Madnug pull off a meter square of metal, exposing wires and insulation. He plugged himself into some jack in the mess and focused intently.

“Madnug, are you sure you’re okay? You were out for a long time.”

Madnug paused. Then disconnected from the wreck and wanted nothing more to do with it. He retracted his laser cutter. “I’m not sure what error I experienced, but it seems to have resolved.”

“So long as you’re all right.”

“You? I came back online to find you unconscious.”

Nanako looked up at the sky. No time for a nap. “A little woozy, but I feel better already.” She didn’t like standing around like this, but she had to ask. “Hey, um… do you have any idea what… _happened_ happened? I’m not going to lie… It looked like we were toast for a second.”

Madnug hesitated. His cold blue optics glowed in the dark, turned down to the ground. She caught his hand almost migrating over his chestplate as if there was something to hide there. But Nanako knew what it was.

“I don’t have enough data to theorize,” he said.

Nanako didn’t press the matter. “So, what do we do now? Sit here and wait to be rescued?”

“Negative,” Madnug said. “This site is not safe to remain near. I don’t know what hazardous materials might have become dislodged by the impact. We should find the authorities and inform them to keep this area clear until a disposal team can arrive.”

“OK. I guess we’ll just go fly for help.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Huh?”

Madnug didn’t look exactly _sheepish_. But he wasn't as glass-sharp as normal. “It’s not possible. My equipment was exchanged for deployment in space. My propulsion system was designed for use in low-gravity environments. I cannot sustain enough lift here to fly.”

“Oh.” Nanako snickered. His big impressive wing-looking things were actually super useless and dorky. “I guess let’s start walking until we find someone.”

So they did.

The scenery was beautiful at least. The sun was beginning to rise. There were forests and great wildernesses on Neotopia, of course. But Nanako felt she had to stare at every tree. They were grown and twisted and somehow _fantastic_ in a way that left her own planet feeling plain and young. She looked at the phone in her pocket. It still had some battery, she didn’t have to switch out and recharge the first one yet. But there was no reception in another dimension.

“It may be possible to modify my equipment, though I would be exchanging thrust for charge life,” Madnug mumbled. “And there would be durability issues.”

Nanako didn’t like to hear him fret like this. “So this is really Lacroa?” she asked.

“Yes,” Madnug confirmed. Then he looked at her. “Was that a rhetorical question?”

“Sorry, yeah,” Nanako said. “I’ve never visited before. I’ve always wanted to. There’s supposed to be knights and magic and fantastic things all over the place. Or that’s how Zero made it sound. But he makes everything out to be a big deal.”

“Who is this?”

Nanako remembered that Madnug probably didn’t know anything that wasn’t related to his job yet. “Zero’s a Knight Gundam from here. He’s one of my brother’s friends. He helped save the universe from the Dark Axis,” she said. “He’s nice, if a little bit fluffed-up.”

The forest gave way to a road. It wound in either direction. Maybe if they ran into someone else, they could get pointed towards a city or town. There had to be a sign no matter which way they went, at least.

“Finding Zero is a reasonable secondary objective,” said Madnug.

“I’m gonna tell him Lacroa needs phones,” Nanako said.

\--

“Your Majesty. An urgent audience has been requested.”

Queen Relejimana Miya du Lacroa dotted her face with her napkin and folded her hands in her lap. The messenger looked mortified to have interrupted their royal leader in the midst of breakfast.

“I trust that this is very important, then,” she said. “But I was informed that all matters of security would be handled by Zero.”

“Yes, my lady. A prudent assumption. The circumstance is… unusual. It begs one of your specific wisdom and experience.”

“Oh? Very interesting. Summarize for me, if you can.”

“A-as you know, the recent trouble with Neotopia is still the highest priority of your guard. Well… a witness reports a Neotopian ship has come down somewhere in the western Sanc Forest.”

“What sort of ship?”

“That is beyond me. I am sorry, your Majesty.”

The Sovereign Queen of Lacroa closed her eyes. Then she rose from her breakfast.

“A battle-ship would not fall out of the sky,” said Relejimana, “if it intended to bring harm to my people. You were correct to bring this information to me. I will see that you are rewarded. But will you do me a favor?”

“Yes, of course. Anything you desire.”

Relejimana smiled. “Notify Zero for me, but only after I have given further instructions to the guard. He will fret, but he is no longer the only Knight of Lacroa.”

\--

“I guess we found someone,” Nanako mumbled to herself.

Madnug did not make an effort to push past the small robots blocking the way. He was good at staring them down, though. A few cowered.

“We are the tollgate of this road,” said one of the robots that Nanako realized must be Pawn Leos. They were all armed, though. “We deliver the toll to our master, pawn. You must pay!”

“I don’t have anything that you’d want,” said Nanako. “I don’t carry Lacroa money with me.”

“With you? Then you might have a good ransom, pawn,” said one of the Leos.

Madnug spoke at last. “I would advise you to suspend your normal activities. There is a class-B containment risk only 2.38 kilometers from this location. Informing the authorities takes priority to… whatever this is.”

“I’m pretty sure they want to mug us,” said Nanako. “We should go.”Nanako sort of knew that wasn’t going to happen though. Madnug seemed determined to stand between her and the large gang of Leos. And she wasn’t going to abandon him and run off, either. And the Leos weren’t going to do anything until they decided to take what they wanted. Madnug’s three useless thruster pods rotated, and dispensed two beam guns.

Which was, like, awesome and all. But drawing a gun outnumbered didn’t help in any sense but the most basic one. And Nanako had been told that Madnug was not a combat-class member of the SDG to begin with.

“I have been granted probationary dispensation to use fireams to preserve myself and my objectives,” Madnug said. “But I would prefer to avoid violence.”

“It doesn’t matter what you prefer, pawn! Resisting was your last mistake!”

Nanako felt herself pushed to the ground. For a second, all she could hear was desperate beam fire. Then a _fwip_ hit the ground not far from her right hand. A razor-sharp arrow! Nanako rolled out of the way and jumped back to her feet. Trying to be as thin and un-target-like as possible.

The arrows weren’t very effective on Madnug, but a few were sticking out of his joints, slowing him down. The sheer numbers of the Pawn Leos were overwhelming. Their auto-crossbows and swords were less necessary than their bodies mobbing the gundam. Soon Madnug had no room to fire and had wasted his weapon charge. Guns useless, he then struggled to push back the enemy’s weight. For every one he managed to slam to the ground and turn back into object form, two came out of the magic’s vapor to replace them.

“Nanako! Run!”

She didn’t want to. But she took a step back anyway. And another. And she turned around quickly to sprint, and crashed into a human man that had been lurking behind her.

“Sweet lady, all I want is your purse,” said the man, who was definitely a bandit and may have been a magician or some kind. Unless everybody in Lacroa dressed like that. “Re-animating Leos might be free, but the best things in life are not.”

“No way! Kiss off, slimeball!”

“Give him your belongings,” Madnug said desperately, under a pile of Leos.

“You should do as your poor excuse for a bodyguard says,” said the bandit.

Nanako yelled as loud as she could, in hopes that someone would hear. “Madnug’s better than your goons! You’re making a big mistake!”

She could see Madnug’s hand trying to wrestle free. He tore one of the relentless Pawns away from his own face, and yelled through its wisp of discorporated smoke, “Release her!”

“I’ll be fine, Madnug!” she yelled. “So don’t give up!”

The Leos regrouped and pinned the Gundam’s limbs again while he seemed stunned to be told this. Then, cried out in their artificial voices as a great light erupted from their captive, drowned out by a new roar of sound and what felt like to Nanako her own heartbeat.

Nanako could feel herself… moving somehow? Being moved backward? Or was everything moving around her? The blindness evaporated from her eyes in… in a second? A minute? Less?

She was standing three feet in front of where she was. A good twenty-five Pawn Leos were gathered on the road before her and Madnug, who had wound up right next to her.

“We are the tollgate of this road!” said one of the Pawn Leos. “We deliver the toll to-”

Madnug shot them. He’d drawn his guns immediately and just shot the the robot right in the faceplate. The rest paused in horror as their spokesmech’s form collapsed back into a carved metal die in a puff of opaque smoke. Then they skipped the speech and charged.

But this time, Madnug was ready for them. He didn’t shove Nanako out of the way, but mowed down the first rank with vulcan guns. Their discorporated bodies formed a smoke screen the rest hesitated to charge through.. Then he began to pick off archers one by one. Nanako stood in quiet awe, forgetting everything. His aim was incredible. There was no way he could have hit so many perfect marks so quickly, lining up the shots before the targets were even there.

Nanako felt a warmth in her heart, and the unbidden thought, _remember what’s behind you_!

She whipped around and before she even knew what she was looking at had punched a man in the kidney. Hard. It was just like her self-defense clinic a few months ago. He doubled over in surprise. This was the part where she was supposed to start running away, but there was still fighting all around.

Madnug leveled his gun at the man on the ground. All the Leos instantly stood still.

“I am not programmed to take lives,” he announced. “But upon experimentation, I am capable of eliminating Pawn Leos. I suggest you do not broaden these parameters.”

The Leos were terrified.

“Let them go!” the bandit begged, huddled on the ground. “For the love of Mana, let them pass!”

A clatter was coming down the road.

“I will hold custody of you for approximately 2 minutes and 12 seconds,” said Madnug.

That was how long that they all waited there until a trio of horses came down the road. Two were flesh, the third was mecha, like their riders. All were armed, none bore regard for the Leos. Just riding through the survivors trampled many into dice and vapor. The rest fled, loyalty to their summoner more than up.

“What, ho?” exclaimed the one mecha rider as they came to rest.

“Please don’t call me that,” said Nanako.

The rider stared at her. Then at Madnug. And then at the bandit on the ground.

“Never mind! I misunderstood,” she said. “Are you from the castle?”

“Aye! I am Griepe, squire to the Royal Knights of Lacroa. I am here with these fine guardsmen seeking a fallen star,” said the mounted Gundam. “If I offended, fair maiden, I am sorry. So what’s all of this?”

It was a wide-sweeping ‘this.’ It sort of covered the mess that was going on. The two human guards were understandably happy not to make a comment.

“To my understanding, this individual commanded a large unit of…” Madnug said, then trailed off.

He didn’t know what they were called. “Pawn Leos,” Nanako said.

“... Pawn Leos, and was using their numbers to antagonize pedestrians. I am unfamiliar with your laws, squire of Lacroa. I have not harmed him.”

“A lot of Leos are toast though,” added Nanako. Then she frowned in horror. “Do they count as… like… people?”

Griepe held out a hand.

“Rest assured, travelers. The destruction of Leos is no crime. In fact, it is a crime to fabricate them.” He snapped his fingers. Well, the most that a robot could do that. A pair of metal handcuffs appeared on the bandit, that moved of their own accord. The man yelped as they pulled him upright and staggering to march. Griepe turned to his two escorts. “Both of you. Take this prisoner to detention.”

“Yes, master Griepe!”

The bandit, whoever he was, stumbled off after them. He was compelled by his magicked bindings.

There was no more cause for Madnug to aim a weapon. Nanako saw the Lacroan Gundam stare while Madnug replaced his weapons into back-mounted storage. Greipe almost spoke first, but Madnug interrupted him. “Combat situation resolved. Primary objective moved to priority,” he said. “If you are an authority in these lands, I must inform you of a class-B containment risk approximately two kilometers to the southwest. If I interpret your purpose correctly, that is what you are searching for. But it is hazardous to approach. I recommend securing the area until a disposal team can arrive.”

“I see that you are knowledgeable about my business,” said Griepe from atop his mecha-horse. “Declare yourselves, foreigners.”

“We’re from Neotopia, and peaceful. When we’re not being attacked. I’m Nanako,” Nanako said, with a bad feeling. “This is my friend Madnug. He’s a scientist. Our space ship had problems and went down in the forest back that way.”

Griepe turned his horse around. The being seemed restless. Nanako wondered if it was like Entengo or if mecha-horses in Lacroa were different than in Ark. It seemed less patient and less personable, more like a real horse made out of metal than Entengo was. Entengo was a character partner to Bakunetsumaru in his own right.

“Nanako… Sister to Shute— the hero of dimensions, harbinger of the Gundam Force, friend to the Queen and to Lacroa herself?”

“Yeah,” said Nanako. “That’s my brother all right.”

Griepe dismounted at once. “Fortuitously met! Please, noble lady. Take my place, and I shall escort you and your companion back to the castle on foot.”

\--

Nanako was as happy as any 13 year old girl to be given a pony ride, but less happy that it made it hard for her to talk to Madnug without Griepe noticing. It felt a little rude, too, to be riding when both robots were walking. But if she got off the horse, they’d all be walking. And if Madnug got on the horse, Griepe would think that was weird. And if Griepe got back on the horse, they’d all be right where they started.

It was only a few hours’ ride to the edge of the forest, and when the trees cleared it was easy to see distant cliff walls. Lacroa was a land of deep green valleys and canyons, connected by ravines and wondrous caves. The sheer highlands that rose on all sides were buffeted by a sustained wind.

Real wilderness, unlike the nurtured biomes in Neotopia.

From the center of the valley and the middle of a crystal lake, towered an enormous green tree. Around that tree was a castle. And around that castle, a sprawling city glittering with magic lights.

They passed farms and quiet village lanes on the approach. The city had no limit beyond the lake borders and beautiful stone bridges. Everything increased in density until she was travelling up a main avenue. Nanako noticed immediately that there were far more humans than robots. Also that to them, she was a strange dresser. She didn’t even own one fancy hat.

If Madnug was uncomfortable, he didn’t say so.

Soon they were at the castle gate. Griepe helped Nanako dismount, which was very gracious of him but felt a little bit unnecessary. She wasn’t exactly wearing a gown or other clothing that would make moving difficult. “So, uh, thanks for the ride,” she said. “So, um, can we go now?”

Griepe had talked at length during the short journey, but not about much of anything. While Madnug was content to listen, Nanako thought asking him anything at the moment would result in bogus answers.

“You speak as though ignorant of Neotopia’s actions,” said Griepe. “You are to be brought before the Queen, young lady.”

“What? Queen Rele?”

“Queen Relejimana Miya du Lacroa,” appended the squire Griepe, “has demanded an official inquiry. And as Neotopia will not answer her call, you are a convenient first point of questioning.”

Nanako squinted her eyes as they were led through ancient white granite halls, interwoven with braided and decorated roots.

“Neotopia maintains a 24-hour interdimensional communication channel,” Madnug said.

“Not very well, lately,” Griepe replied.

At the top of a raised theatre were two enormous doors. They had one man to a handle to open them. Griepe ushered them through, but did not accompany them. Inside, a long carpet bisected what was obviously a throne room: large enough for any audience or court in session. There were a variety of lesser seats within, each cushioned in some noble’s colors and eccentrically decorated. Nanako couldn’t count the banners and flags that covered the far walls, sewn with Lacroa’s intricate heraldry. Branches crossed the ceiling in arches, tiny white flowers hanging from the Spirit Tree’s delicate fingers.

“Look down,” Nanako whispered to Madnug, because she felt awkward staring around at everything. “It’s respectful or something.”

Madnug nodded faintly and focused on the path a meter in front of his feet.

“Presenting to the court, Neotopian travelers fallen from a starship. Concerning the topic of Neotopian aggression against Lacroa.”

That was some… announcer? Herald, Nanako vaguely thought of.

“Rise. We bid you welcome,” said a woman’s finely-toned voice.

Queen Relejimana Miya du Lacroa was definitely the most beautiful lady that Nanako had ever met. The last time she’d seen her, the Queen had still been a Princess (and what made you upgrade that title? Age?) and Nanako had been too young to have an opinion. Relejimana had long, intricately-braided satin hair, totally perfect skin, beautiful jewelry and a crown paired with the finest royal gowns imaginable. Even her expression was stunningly regal. Nanako didn’t know anybody who knew how to control their face so well that she could feel welcomed but awed by a person’s presence. Let alone a lady only a little older than her brother.

Zero was standing next to her, mortified to see Nanako there.

Nanako waved a little bit.

Zero looked even more mortified. Three very similar advisors behind Zero began whispering among themselves.

“The parties are permitted to introduce themselves before the court,” said the herald, who was human and standing off somewhere to the right. Next to them was another knight gundam that Nanako had never seen before. Aside from Zero, they were the only other robot in attendance.

“I am the GP04 model designated ‘Madnug,’” said Madnug automatically. “It is highest in my list of priorities to inform you that my ship’s crash site is a class-B containment risk and should be restricted until equipped cleanup teams can process it.”

The whole court murmured until Zero spoke waveringly. “Your Majesty, I apologize for any ignorance of protocol—”

“Your words are bold, gundam,” interrupted the Queen. Somehow very persuasive despite the note of doubt in her voice. “But thank you for the warning, your consideration for our citizens. We shall see to it that none approach.”

“I’m Nanako,” said Nanako. “I, um, was on board the ship with him.”

“Yes, we remember you. We’ve been introduced,” said the Queen. “It’s been some time since we were last in Neotopia. If circumstances were different, we would have given you a fine welcome. Now, we worry about our relationship.”

“I mean, me too,” Nanako agreed. “But Madnug and I… we were sort of in space all yesterday. Did something happen?”

“Yes. An attempt on our life,” said the Queen.

Nanako bit her lip.

“By two of your GM citizens, from Neotopia’s embassy,” the Queen finished.

“Why would they do something like that?” Nanako gasped. “I… I’m so sorry. Are they…?”

“They were apprehended, but would not submit,” said Zero sadly. “One was unfortunately slain by one of the squires under Master Gemini. The other, stricken with madness, took their own life shortly after arrest.”

“If their bodies are returned to Neotopia, I am certain that the SDG would cooperate in an investigation,” Madnug said. “Their memory banks may still be salvageable.”

“That would be an agreeable solution,” said the Queen. “But Neotopia, and all services it provided with its Dimensional Transport Devices, have gone quiet.”

“That… looks really bad,” Nanako conceded. “Isn’t there anybody else at the embassy that, um, might be able to help?”

“Not at this time,” said the Queen. “It seems they have all gone home suddenly.”

Nanako thought for a second.

“The election,” she said. “Sorry, I just remembered. There’s an election sometime soon in Neotopia. It’s in a few months. So if they’re all adults maybe they went home for that.”

“I would assert that recent attacks in Neotopia are related,” Madnug added. “With a confidence of 78.4%.”

The Lacroan court went a tremorous shade of quiet.

“That’s… news,” Zero said. “I cannot imagine who could be left to attack. It's senseless to strike such a powerfully defended nation.”

The Queen of Lacroa remained silent. Debating this. Nanako pulled out her phone.

“I actually have a recording of some of the people who did it,” she said. “Want to hear?”

\--

That was how Nanako Ray found herself playing audio from her phone for the Lacroan royal court.

They discussed and deliberated. The Queen conferred with the peers. And when all was over, the two Neotopians were left standing there. Nanako tiredly shifted on her feet.

“The court has decided. Prudence is the wisest course of action amidst uncertainty. Until Neotopia can answer for the actions of its citizens, the gundam Madnug will be under arrest and detained for—”

“Why?”

The herald was taken aback by Nanako’s sudden question. Zero looked like he was going to have engine failure on the spot.

“He is a member of Neotopia’s approximation to military force,” said the herald. “Armed, and trespassing on Lacroan soil in a period of crisis.”

“He’s done nothing wrong! Madnug wouldn’t hurt anyone,” Nanako insisted. She pushed away the cold, uncomprehending look in the robot’s eyes earlier that morning. He hadn’t known any better, Nanako told herself. He hadn’t been trained to fight, or what to say. He wasn’t like Captain Gundam.

“He is a gundam, by definition an agent of his masters, who have not clarified themselves,” the herald said, flabbergasted by this break of protocol. Zero was frozen, maybe unwilling to demand the guards remove Nanako from the room.

“Nanako, I will abide by their laws and customs,” said Madnug.

Nanako dropped to one knee and held her hands out wrists-crossed. “If he gets arrested, then you’ll have to arrest me first.”

The Lacroan court first sat jaw-locked. Then some stood. And argued. And began to shout. A human taking a penalty for a robot! An admission of guilt? A defense of innocence! They’d force a young girl’s arrest instead of a gundam soldier! Outrage! Someone raised a cane. Nanako, who had no idea what all this fuss was, knelt perfectly still. Her eyes wide-open darted around. First to the chaos. Then to poor Zero who was standing there defeatedly. Then to Madnug, who was staring back at her. His expression unreadable but stunned.

The Queen held out her satin-gloved hand. The conflict ebbed as each party noticed and shushed who they were bickering with.

The three advisers behind the queen spoke clearly in unison. “All must be silent for the decree of the Queen!”

The court deadened like scolded children.

“I have been granted a vision by the Spirit Tree,” said the Queen. “Just now, in light of the selflessness before me. If their hearts are true, they will venture into the abyss and return. They will be accompanied by a loyal knight of Lacroa.”

There was so much fuss and ceremony and pomp and by-your-leave that Nanako wasn’t really sure what was happening. Somewhere along the way they broke for tea, and Nanako took the time to stuff as much food as she could sneak into her backpack as possible. Madnug let the world pass around him, an objective observer to chaos.

Nanako wondered if he was less calm than he seemed. Soon, they were all away from the court and Zero and the Queen were walking alongside her and Madnug. Mostly her. They didn’t know Madnug as well.

“Well! That was a minor disaster,” said the Queen, much more relaxed outside official presence. “Even as Queen, I could do no more for you.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad nobody got arrested,” Nanako said. “Sorry, Zero.”

“Not as sorry as I would be, to apprehend Shute’s young sister,” Zero said. “But please, for your own sake, do not be so brash in front of the court. Prophecies don’t always fall out of Mana’s arms to quell their concerns.”

“Actually, I made that one up,” said the Queen.

Zero somehow tripped over absolutely nothing at all midair. Nanako giggled.

Madnug seemed confused by the duplicity. “Then you did not receive some sort of directive from your spirit tree?”

“In reality, I should be apologizing to you two,” said the Queen. “I’ve unfortunately sent you on an errand to prove your credibility to the Court. I’ve needed someone to address the Abyssal Sphere since the assassination attempt, but for a variety of reasons it’s not been possible.”

“I do not possess data on any ‘Abyssal Sphere,” Madnug said.

“You might call it a cult. An enclave of ne’er-do-wells. It is only a little justice that their Dark Mana was de-petrified,” replied Zero.

“Zero. That’s enough,” said the Queen. “They may be unpleasant and certainly Dark, but they are neither evil nor good in the greater sense. The Dark Axis ravaged their number before it ravaged Lacroa castle. War between dimensions threatens them, as it does us.”

“War,” Zero said. With unveiled dread. With what Nanako guessed was the voice of one who had known war before.

“I do not believe it will come to that,” said the Queen. “But someone seems to want it enough to cast a vote with my blood. I know of no other force in these times but black magic that would so dreadfully compel peaceful robots.”

Madnug nodded stiffly. “It would be a significant possibility to investigate. In the meantime I suggest the GM remains be held for examination. If your hypothesis should prove incorrect, I may be able to discern the malfunction. Or otherwise.”

For some reason, Queen Relejimana and Zero were uncomfortable with this. But the Queen conceded, “Very well, Madnug. They are Neotopians even in death. I will release them to one of their own.”

“This errand should not take long,” said Zero. “I personally shall ensure promptness and safety, as you expect.”

“You will remain by my side until the trouble has passed, Zero,” said the Queen. “Did you not vow this to me?”

Zero looked at Nanako with a mote of fear. “Yes, my Queen. But the Abyssal Sphere is a dangerous sort.”

“Fear not, my good knight-grandmaster. I will send Gemini in your stead.”

“But he must prepare the squires for the coming week.”

“Are you arguing with me, Zero?”

“No! No, of course not, my Queen. I wouldn’t.”

Nanako was surprised when Madnug leaned over to her, and whispered in his cool voice. “Candidly: it must be difficult to be a knight gundam.”

“I think it’s mostly just Zero,” said Nanako. When the Queen was no longer looking, Zero shot her a look, accompanied with the keen pitch of his magical actuators buzzing. It was the kind of look that definitely proved her right.

\--

Officer Shute Ray of the SDG hadn’t gotten a primary deployment order in the past five years. Quaternary was routine patrol detail. Tertiary was training and official SDG report or function. Secondary was cleanup or supervisory. Primary was immediate response to a direct threat to dimensional security.

He’d gotten three in the past four days.

The first, it was too late. Neotopia tower was down one elevator and Neotopia was down eight civilian lives.

The second, he’d found himself in the field evacuating Peace Park while Captain Gundam and SDG technicians contained and defused bombs hidden inside several terrified Axian citizens. They had no idea. Two didn’t survive.

Now they had a dimensional rift opening up over the city and at least four bogeys touching down fast. The pattern of their descent and their refusal to respond to any communication channels, well. It didn’t look good.

By the time Shute braked to a stop, Captain Gundam was already there. About two blocks from the New Axia hoverrail stop. At a traffic interchange next to a public data center. There were still civilians around.

“Close down 31st street and Antarctic avenue,” Shute said over his comm channel. He swung his leg over his SDG-issued motorbike. “Get any police on clearing the area. I’m not sure what’s going on here yet.”

The five unknown robots were... standing there. Armed, yet passive. Waiting? The axians on the street stared at them, because the unknown mechs looked _just_ like them. Mono-optic, same common paint job. But more robust construction than the Zakos. Some new kind of soldier?

If they were going to take their time causing trouble, that was fine. Shute joined the police officers in clearing the bystanders.

“Unidentified mecha, declare your intentions,” insisted Captain Gundam. “This is a civilian zone. Lay down your weapons and identify yourselves.”

The closest robot lifted its head. Shute didn’t like it. Its optic seemed cold somehow.

“Unidentified mecha! Respond!”

Shute barely had time to shove a young couple to the ground before the foreign robot fired into the crowd. It was a narrow miss. The screaming began, the running, and the chaos.

“I have been granted special dispensation by the authorities to use firearms to protect Neotopia,” Captain declared. “Hostile robots, withdraw at once!”

That command never really worked. “We’ve got a firefight at 31st and Antarctic,” Shute relayed back to base. “Send evac and first-responders!”

And these robots were bigger than zakos, and didn’t waste time on banter. Soon Shute found himself behind an overturned car, meeting Captain halfway while he reloaded the clip in his own rifle. Too many shots wasted on trying to disable limbs or hit weapons. Shute reluctantly drew his own small firearm. “I hate to say it, but we may just have to take them out.”

“Unfortunately, the probability is high,” said Captain. “I did not miss this part of active duty.”

“Yeah, it’s not that great,” Shute said.

Captain Gundam had only seen Shute use his own gun twice before in his operation. Once, at age sixteen to save a diplomat of a foreign dimension. The other at age eighteen, to save Captain’s own life. Like Captain, he did not carry one unless absolutely nessesary.

“Ready, my friend?”

Shute nodded. “As I’m ever gonna be.”

Captain touched off the cover, the heat from his booster rockets crackling dry air and baking asphalt beneath him. The gunfire followed him, ricocheting off his shield and pocking shattered storefronts. Shute leaned out carefully. Unlike a robot, humans had to steady their aim with two hands. He lined up his handgun with one of the rampaging robot’s optical arrays. He apologized when he pulled that trigger.

Firing a gun himself was always much less cool than seeing a heroic figure defeat some bad guys. The shot pierced cleanly through the robot’s head, baking their processor and shutting them down instantly. They buckled as Captain’s shots took down three of their squadron.

Shute watched that robot hit the ground and explode .

All three of their peers went off at the same time. The last one was caught in the blast, thrown ten meters before blowing itself to bits as well. Captain tossed in the air, forced to land from the shockwave. Nothing was left of them but burning rubber and twisted titanium-alloy scraps.

Shute ran up to Captain and holstered his own gun. Looked at what he’d done. No, no, it was the enemies. They had to have… they had to have been rigged to explode. To go off like that. Like they wanted to be shot. It wasn’t a murder-suicide maneuver. They’d have tried to take their attackers out with them. Or tried to go off near the civilian property, with hiding people still inside.

Shute didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t any kind of attack an invader had made before. After they’d fired on two civilians, they’d ignored the others. There were even some citizens who had been on the ground the whole time, too scared to move. A few had their cell phones out.

Soon he and Captain were looking down into the stinking crater where the invaders used to be. Sirens went off in the distance. The few police and rescue units still close by had to restrain civilians from running back towards the scene they’d just fled from.

“Captain,” Shute said. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither,” replied Captain Gundam.


	8. Thread— Episode 11 was weird

 

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Episode 11 was weird

1234...8

PhishSox

Fashion Icon

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 8-12-297 at 8:22 PM

I get what you guys are saying but this episode is one of my favorites. I know season 2 is much more involved but this is kind of where the simple show concept begins to break down and show some depth. The big thing is that Dyna Robo is trapped on Planet X, not just on a mission this time.

Like the first 10 episodes are pretty formulaic, Dyna Robo is sent on a mission, Dyna Robo learns about the enemy's plans, Dyna Robo mobilizes in the field to stop them etc. But _Alone On Planet X!_ changes it all up. It's really too bad the season finale didn't pick up on the hints that got dropped.  
  
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Mewsa

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 4-22-298 at 2:31 PM

> PhishSox
> 
> The big thing is that Dyna Robo is trapped on Planet X, not just on a mission this time.

I don't get what the differance here is. He's prepared for missions to go wrong so it's just a really hard mission 

/ᐠ｡ퟑ｡ᐟ\  
  
Beryl

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 4-22-298 at 2:40 PM

> Mewsa
> 
> I don't get what the differance here is. He's prepared for missions to go wrong so it's just a really hard mission 

There was a certain level of control Dyna Robo had during his missions. They could go according to plan, or encounter problems. When you're trapped somewhere it's a loss of control, like you can't run away and nobody can come to save you. It doesn't take that much strength to be part of a big organization, but it does take strength to survive on your own.  
  
Mewsa

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 4-22-298 at 2:42 PM

Ok that makes sense. Like going camping vs. being lost in the woods? 

/ᐠ｡ퟑ｡ᐟ\  
  
ERRORS

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 4-22-298 at 3:05 PM

Also this is the point where the Dynaverse can't listen in on Dyna Robo. Every other time there's been some kind of squad member there or a communication feed back to base. I think this was important because it was the first time Malamech was able to reach him and ONLY him even if it was through one of his subordinates.

tbh its kind of messed up that Dyna Robo had no privacy working in the Dynaverse *shrug*

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
DiyaSodi

Malamech GF <3

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 4-22-298 at 3:11 PM

we could ask the ppl stuck in another dimension when they get back what it feels like. i know that they're working rly hard to get the DTD working again but... not prepared for ep 11 to be real life. ='(

I could add a sig. .. or I could bean you with a can of peaches... decisions decisions!  
  
Beryl

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Re: Episode 11 Discussion

Posted 4-22-298 at 3:48 PM

> DiyaSodi
> 
> not prepared for ep 11 to be real life. ='( 

I visited a friend of mine who worked in the embassy in Lacroa once. I'm sure the workers are being taken care of. The culture there is very different but I remember they were very polite and eager to help. If only Dyna Robo got stranded someplace nice, rather than the hostile wilderness of Planet X.   
  
PhishSox

Fashion Icon

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Re: Episode 11 was weird

Posted 4-22-298 at 4:07 PM

Hey if we're going to necro a thread can we stay on topic? Dyna Robo wasn't just lost on another planet, somebody with intentions worked to trap him there. I don't think anybody in real life was set up like that. Whoever hit the DTD probably was just riled up by politics and not even thinking. What do you get from blowing your own guys to kingdom come?  
  
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	9. Lost and Found

A mecha-horse drawn carriage didn’t need a driver. But the horse responded to petting and carrots like a mammal horse. The knight gundam Gemini stood by impatiently while Nanako explained to Madnug that ponies were very good, that petting them was very good, and that they were just all-around good sorts of creatures. After a short period of testing these assertions, Madnug concurred.

Nanako sat in the back of the open carriage and wished that she had more time alone to talk to Madnug. She was building kind of a list by now of… weird things and problems and other stuff she had to ask him about. But with Gemini flying alongside, she just didn’t feel comfortable. If it was Zero, that would be different. But she didn’t even know this other guy and it would be super strange to start talking about private serious stuff with a stranger nearby.

Madnug seemed content to observe the scenery. His eyes were always open, surveying unflinchingly between the trees and the clouds and those that passed in the other direction. Nanako was secretly glad he was the sort of robot that didn’t have to be chatting all the time. She wasn’t really that kind of person either.

Lacroa’s beautiful nature, lakes and valley were nice. But Nanako mostly spent her time watching the knight Gemini out of the corner of her eye. He definitely seemed older than Zero was, with tired-looking optics and significant wear on his brightly-painted armor. Those were old wounds that magic alone could not fix.

Zero had approached her before they’d set off, about this knight.

“Mind your manners around Master Gemini,” Zero had said. “He is a gundam of stately history and little patience for mischief.”

“I didn’t know that there were other knight gundams yet,” she’d said. “Since… I mean… Sorry, Zero.”

“It’s all right. It was a surprise to me as well when we learned of Master Gemini’s survival,” Zero had said.

Nanako asked him, “How did he do it?”

And Zero explained to her, “Once, he and his brother Geminii were grandmasters of my order. While I and my comrades sought to defend Lacroa’s surviving heiress, they fought the enemy to the end before the Spirit Tree. In that battle, they sealed themselves inside the tree to protect it from evil. Though it withered, it did not become stone as the rest of my kingdom did. Gemini’s twin did not survive this ordeal.”

“You’re the grandmaster now,” Nanko had said. “Even though he taught you?”

“Alas, he did not want the title without his twin to share it. It is rare that two gundams are born from one spirit egg; they share a bond of destiny that death will not surmount,” Zero lamented. “You must remain courteous. He still trains the squires, and is a steadfast sort. But he is… dour these days, touched with a certain melancholy. Do not trouble him.”

So she didn’t talk to him. Gemini didn’t want to talk to her, either.

Nanako pulled out her phone. The battery was fine, but she still had no signal. “This sucks,” she said. “This would be easy if we could just call them.”

“It was my understanding that tasks like these are customary in Lacroa,” said Madnug. “They would not outmode them.”

“Lacroa totally could still get its quest fix if it had phones,” Nanako said. “More quests, better, faster.”

“Is that the point of quests?”

Nanako grumbled. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “Still, this thing’s useless while I’m here. I wish I could at least call home.”

Madnug shifted his gaze from the road passing by to her. “Could I examine it for a moment?”

“Huh? Sure.”

Nanako passed it to him. It was too small for his reinforced fingers, but he didn’t exactly have to tap the screen to use it. It was technology he could easily manipulate with his personal network. When he handed it back to her, it had a new, unmarked icon on its screen. It didn’t do anything when she tried to select it.

“I should be able to communicate with this device now,” Madnug said. “Regardless of cell reception. Though not obstructed, or at distances greater than a few kilometers.”

“So I can call you and you can call me?” Nanako felt her face split into a grin. “Like a walkie-talkie.”

Despite having 0 bars of reception, she received an incoming message. She opened it. It contained an image of a brilliant starfield, cut by the voided shadows of floating debris.

“Huh? Did you send this?”

Madnug’s even voice didn't sound surprised, or offended. “You did request a picture of space,” he said.

“I love it,” Nanako gasped. She set it to her phone background immediately. Then she had an idea, scooted closer to Madnug on the carriage bench, and held her phone up. She had to search around for the best light.

“What are you doing?”

“Smile! Selfie!”

Nanako thought that despite her own cheesy grin, and despite that Madnug himself was pretty stoic, it was a good picture. He mostly looked curious.

“I see. A self-portrait,” said Madnug. “Why?”

“No reason. You take them sometimes. Your friends can be in them too. To prove you were there I guess,” Nanako said. “It’s fun.”

He seemed to consider this for longer than Nanako thought was ordinary. “Um, I’ll ask in the future. Before taking random pictures, I mean.”

“Nanako, you have referred to me as your friend several times,” he said. “I am unsure how to reciprocate.”

“Do you like being called that?”

“Yes,” Madnug said immediately.

Nanako was so thrilled that she almost didn’t notice the cart stop. They had come to the end of a dwindling path, long-deserted. The nature avoided the mouth of a jagged cave. Its breath may have shriveled weeds.

The gundam Gemini spoke with his austere voice as he helped Nanako off the tall carriage. He did not pay such heed to Madnug. “These caverns are the dwelling of the Abyssal Sphere. It should not take long to deliver the Queen’s message. I must be off, but I will return to escort you back to the castle. No brigand will accost you.”

“I thought you were going in there with us,” Nanako said. “Isn’t that what the Queen said?”

“I as a Knight of Lacroa I am far more qualified to interpret the Queen’s word than you are,” said Gemini. “I have accompanied you. Your task is set before you as a test of character. My presence would defeat the purpose, maiden fair.”

Nanako squinted at him.

“Okay,” she said.

“Journey in confidence. There is no stronger vow than that of a Knight,” said Gemini. “I will return.”

And that was where he left them. The mecha horse stood by, content to munch the sparse foliage like any other horse. Nanako unhooked its coupling from the cart, but left its lead attached. Hopefully it wouldn’t wander far.

When Madnug spoke, Nanako was surprised to hear him sound somewhat uneasy. “Probability of failure is rising past 55 percent. I assumed that if the Queen was an acquaintance of yours, she would minimize vectors of risk.”

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t like that guy's excuse,” Nanako said. “Queen Rele’s actually part of the Gundam Force. She wouldn’t mess around like this was a real silly fantasy quest thing. Even if the court likes that kind of stuff, she needs to know about these Sphere guys.”

She grumbled.

“I think he blew us off,” Nanako finished.

She turned around. Madnug was staring into the dark cave, not moving. She walked over next to him. Maybe he was simulating something pretty intense. He didn’t respond until she kind of patted him on the pauldron plate.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I don’t want to proceed,” he said. He almost sounded scared, or scared that he _was_ scared. His feet were planted before the darkness.

“We have to go in there,” Nanako said unhappily. It didn't look like a very friendly sort of place.

“I… don’t have data on anything within,” Madnug said. “I can’t estimate our odds of survival.”

Nanako couldn’t blame him. He was not a warrior robot. He wasn’t programmed to face danger. Very few robots really were. But a soldier would have had functions specialized to make them extra brave. Just like how any human would have to prepare themselves to do difficult, dangerous things. More than being issued a gun.

She rummaged in her pack and pulled out a heavy-duty super-bright flashlight with special, long-lasting batteries. She clicked it on and looped its cord twice around her wrist.

“Do we know if there _is_ anything we can’t handle in there?” Nanako said.

Reluctantly, Madnug switched on his own forward-mounted lamp. “A valid point.”

The two beams of light illuminated a bare dirt floor within. The sun itself was sinking behind the cliffs. Soon it would be dark outside the cave as well.

“Hey, Madnug? Give me your hand.”

Puzzled, Madnug did so. Even more puzzled when Nanako only held it in her own. “What?”

“We can use the buddy system,” Nanako said. “Is that okay?”

Madnug nodded his head. Together, they walked into the darkness.

\--

The actions of Commander Sazabi were inexplicable. They didn’t _need_ to be explained. Or questioned. If the highest ranking unit of all free Axians in Neotopia wished to spend his days off at some human’s residence, then that was the end of the story. It was of some significance unknown to mecha without such vast tactical understanding. It was vital to some goal they did not have a frame of reference for.

Or, it was one of those weird habits he’d formed to cope with Neotopia’s brutal behavioral torture. Or some sort of victory lap: that he’d reversed the odds upon old jailers. Now they were an asset to him. Somehow.

Sazabi threw open Nanako’s closet in the Ray family household and began tearing her things out one by one.

“You know, she wouldn’t like that,” said a voice from the door. Keiko, the girl’s mother was there. Looking more tired in the past few days. Sazabi rolled his optic and tossed a rolled-up Dyna Robo! Poster into the corner.

“She should have thought of that _before_ she leaped into an experimental spacecraft!” the robot snarled back. He had to bend over, fold his massive booster span down as low as possible to fit in the room. He knocked over a row of clumsy kit models on a dresser while he worked.

In the other room, the news was on.

_“In the wake of recent events, both candidates made public statements. Council Member Fairweather had this to remark,”_

“Sazabi, you shouldn’t invade Nana’s privacy,” Keiko scolded. “Even if she’s not here.”

“Shouldn’t I have? She’s not here for a reason. A reason that I should have known! What foolishness would have...” Sazabi’s words trailed into a sharp snarling, a heaving of his internal engines. The air could almost feel warmer. Keiko, who had seen the most dire of his tantrums, knew that the mech was truly _furious_. There were some outbursts that were because of how he was wired. This _mattered_.

“There’s not always a reason, Sazabi. Or it might not be a reason that… well, that I can understand.”

_“- should not be swayed by acts of violence. In response, chairman Atlus…”_

“You are approaching this as if she is some _common-grade_ child,” Sazabi sneered. “Her actions are not _random_.”

“That’s enough. I’m worried too, Sazabi. But even if there was some sort of clue why Nana did this, that would still be her business.”

Sazabi dug behind an old collection of plastic dinosaurs, flinging them all over the floor. “Don’t you have _any_ imperative to know?! That she would not trust you with vital information?”

“Of course I want to know! I want to know why my daughter is halfway across the galaxy, why she could be dead right now!”

Keiko collapsed on Nanako’s neatly-made bed. She rubbed her temples with both hands.

_“—threats to Neotopian security. A pro-active approach is in the best interest of—”_

“She’s alive,” Sazabi said adamantly.

“I hope you’re right. I desperately do,” Keiko said. “I want to ask her and hear her tell me why in her own voice.”

“Feh! ‘Hope!’ I _know_ of her survival.” Sazabi scattered a stack of old shoe boxes. “What I do _not_ know are her _motivations_.”

Keiko sighed. She sighed a mother’s sigh that held all of her children at once in its breadth. “Sazabi, you know she lives in this house. She knows more than just you. She knows her brother, and she knows Captain Gundam. She was only a baby when they, well, saved the world. With help.”

“You think she is trying to re-enact her sibling’s actions? Fine. But that ignores the entire problem.”

“What?”

“She had the _arrogance_ to challenge me and defy my clear purpose in bringing her aboard the Gundamusai. She may have learned her words from you,” Sazabi snarled, “but her reasoning was not her human brother’s. If I had been in her position, with a reason to act, I would have made preparations immediately."

_“Neotopia’s strength makes us the prize of the multiverse. We must remain vigilant! Enemy robots failed to break us once, but—”_

“Ugh! Mark! Please turn that off!” Keiko asked through the open door. Somewhere else in the house, her husband switched the news feed to a music channel. The house felt empty for a few seconds. Then, Sazabi reached the back of her messy closet and snarled in rage. Nanako wasn’t hiding anything in her room but old junk and dirty laundry.

Then, Keiko closed her eyes and thought.

“You’re right,” she said to Sazabi. “She did prepare.”

When Keiko looked up, Sazabi was staring at her. If she did not know him, his intense gaze might have been frightening. But Keiko was one of the very few people in the universe that had ever seen this robot _beg_.

“She did all of her chores. She woke up early. She had already made up a bag. She… she made sure to tell me that she loved me. I didn’t think about it, but…”

“Of course you didn’t. You lacked vital context.”

Keiko clenched her small, white-knuckled fist. “Don’t be so arrogant, Sazabi. My son lied to me for months about Captain Gundam. You didn’t teach her to risk her life. You only taught her to pack a lunch first.”

\--

“I heard that if you always follow one of the walls, you can find the exit to any maze,” Nanako said. The tunnels stretched on before her, sometimes branching off and sometimes climbing or descending. There were very few distinguishing landmarks, so Nanako scribbled an arrow on each junction with a marker from her backpack. It was the kind that was metallic silver and for marking up things you couldn’t normally write on.

“That is true for a _simply connected_ maze,” Madnug said. “It assumes that all the walls are contiguous and that there are no complete circular paths. Expanding such a maze would reveal a tree structure.”

Nanako heard Madnug’s quiet voice echo. These caverns took whatever you gave them and rattled it around until it distorted in ugly ways. “Well, I hope that these caves are like that. From the way everyone talked about it, the Abyssal Sphere wasn’t supposed to be so far inside.”

“You do not have to mark our route. I am mapping the route with a high level of confidence.”

“Huh? Okay. I guess my marker’s getting dirty anyway.”

“There is something I do not understand, Nanako.”

“Huh?”

Madnug’s head-mounted beam wavered to the left as he turned to look in her direction. “I do not detect elevated heart rate or any other vital signs of unease in you. Why are you not afraid?”

“Of what? The dark?”

Madnug turned back to the path ahead. He only murmured. Maybe he was thinking.

“Hey, I’m afraid of a lot of things. I got shot at. And I miss my family, and I hope everything will be okay,” said Nanako. “I just… I don’t know. I am scared. It’s not… important? Even though it is?”

“You are uncertain.”

“I dunno. I’m being weird, that’s all,” Nanako said.

The beams of light cut a wider circle. The walls pulled away, a tunnel widening to a hall. It was as dark as anything else. A persistent draft poured in from below, as if welling up from the floor. Nanako hoped they were getting closer to something like people. Then she saw a hand sticking up from the floor. She focused her flashlight on it. A robot’s hand. She hoped Madnug hadn’t seen it and tried to move along more quickly.

“What information do we have on the Abyssal Sphere?” Madnug asked. He’d seen the hand. There was more than one evidence of death. A calcified growth protruded not far away. It looked like the flat curves of human ribs.

“Okay, getting spooky,” Nana said. “They’re supposed to be… like warlocks or something. But the Queen said they weren’t evil. The Dark Axis hurt them like the rest of Lacroa.”

“I was under the impression the Dark Axis melted down or enslaved all robotic life forms it encountered,” Madnug said. Half a head and a shattered shoulderplate stood in their path: the beginning of what looked like a _pile_ at the bottom of this widening pit.

“Zero told me they melted down Knight Gundams,” said Nanako. “He never mentioned anyone else.”

Five people appeared in their small island of light. Nanako ran forward to meet them, but they didn’t move. When she got close enough, she saw that they were stone. All of them badly fractured, deep gouges scraped through their petrified faces. They gestured widely. Which of them still had both arms.

“I hope that this is not who we are looking for,” Madnug said.

Nanako squeezed Madnug’s angled metal hand. “I’m calling it, this is too creepy. Let’s get out of here.”

They turned around. A metal face with blank optics was behind them. Their lights reflected off the shattered glass and it _moved_. It wasn’t like in a horror movie where something grabbed you by the ankle. The ground _broke_ like the surface of a lake and _moving_ parts swarmed to the surface. The statues below stared uncaring as they were engulfed, screeching metal on metal it wasn’t supposed to connect to. Splintering bone that twisted sinew around things that never had been part of its flesh.

The rising flood tore Nanako’s grip from Madnug’s hand. She yelled, began to climb above the writhing mass only to find that she was gripping some dead person’s skeleton. “Wow! Okay! No!”

One of the hands she grabbed grabbed back. Nanako screamed, knocked it away with the butt of her flashlight. A crumbling skull shattered to reveal a defeated, very _lit_ optic.

“Oh my gosh! You’re still alive!” Nanako kicked down on the encroaching mass, though it now had her leg. “Hold on! I’m going to try to—”

The stranger’s sad violet optic looked more sorry than Nanako had ever seen a robot look. “Leave me,” they said. “It’s too late.”

“It’s not! Hold still!” Nanako said. She was sinking deeper, furiously chopping at the trapped robot. “I can help you! I..."

The robot sunk deep under the tide. Their tired expression registered fear for that moment before they were engulfed. Nanako heard a _crunching_ noise far below. Her eyes burned. She shut them, pinched out the tears. Then climbed, struggling as she went. Her light pointed up at the ceiling that was growing too close.

She scrambled to the top of the pile before it began to crush against the roof of the cave. She dug down. The air and space was tight, she had to scramble like a ferret. She didn’t know where she was going until she found Madnug. He was terrified, madly trying to claw up to the surface that no longer existed. He had too many protruding features to catch and every greedy appendage was trying to drag him down to the bottom.

“Hold on, Madnug! I got you!”

She grabbed his arm and braced on the most solid piece of the mess she could find. But even if she pulled with all her strength he was still being swallowed steadily downward. “Save yourself!” He demanded. “My destruction is likely at 98 point four three perc—”

“Don’t you start with that!” Nanako yelled. “We can’t give up now!”

She began trying to pry the ugly assemblage of cold parts and dry bones off of Madnug. Individually, none of them had a very strong grip. The problem was that she didn’t have much room to move herself.

“I don’t understand,” Madnug said, terrified.

“If I leave you, that figure goes up to one hundred straight away!” Nanako said. “That doesn’t have to happen!”

He looked into her eyes as they both fell deep.

“It doesn’t have to happen,” he repeated. Trancelike. Comprehending. A bright golden light was leaking from the points of articulation in his frame.

“Yeah! Let’s get out of here!”

The current of the world reversed around her and she felt herself falling blind and backwards through _everything_. It happened between breaths or heartbeats. She was standing next to Madnug, holding his hand. She gripped it more tightly, leveled her flashlight behind her immediately, ignoring the petrified beings at the bottom of the pit.

Ghoulish parts did burst from the ground again. But Nanako didn’t let herself be ripped from Madnug this time. If the thing got them, it would have to take them together.

“What is this? How are we here again?”

Nanako felt them swept up in the chaotic flood. She did her best to stand on top rather than let one of the grasping parts catch her. “We can talk about you doing the time thing later,” she said. “There’s another person trapped in here! We need to help them.”

“Roger,” Madnug confirmed. He seemed more resolute, less panicked. Was there no point in being scared more than once? “Be aware: I am going to engage my thrusters.”

“Huh? But you can’t lift off.”

He secured her with one arm. The bright blue-white light of ion thrusters lit the dingy and horrible scene in stark relief. The heat off of them was surprisingly minimal, focused tightly behind and below him. But whatever being was trying to consume them recoiled and wilted under it. This way they ascended to the top of the heap.

Nanako searched with her flashlight. There it was! One arm, sticking out of the dead rubble! “Look!” she said, fixing her beam on it. “That purple one!”

Climbing over the rising pile was difficult. But they made it in only a few seconds. Madnug bent a sheet of plate metal away from the buried robot’s helm. They looked surprised that anyone would appear to help them.

“Don’t,” they begged shallowly. “Just leave me.”

Nanako began tugging at their arm. “Not you, too! I’m not letting you die again,” she said.

“Again?”

Madnug tried to brace his force, but there was no stable ground. His efforts to move slid him backward, or deeper into the mess. The ceiling was getting close again, but a crater was forming around them. Repulsed by Madnug’s lit thrusters. “There is no time to explain,” he said. “Suffice it to say: I am a member of the SDG. I am here to help.”

“Madnug! You have a laser cutter,” Nanako said. Then something grabbed her overalls straps from behind. “Ack!”

“Nanako!”

“I’m fine! I’ll be fine! Get them free!”

Then the rusted metal closed overhead and her flashlight knotted around her wrist was all that she saw by. Nanako turned around, kicked at the bony grasp on her clothes. More parts flailed out to seize her. She went boneless. They lost her. It suddenly made too much sense how this thing with no eyes had known they were overhead. It had felt them walking through the ground!

With this information, Nanako rolled over like it was quicksand, careful to be as gentle as possible. Its grasp grew weaker, confused. Then she reached out and seized something oblong sticking out of the pile and snapped it free. Between this and her flashlight jammed into the wreckage, she began to climb up cautiously. When she broke the surface, only a few meters of clearance were left. She wildly pointed her flashlight around, trying to orient herself and find Madnug.

She heard a loud snap as something sundered down in the shallow crater. She turned her flashlight up to max beam, even though it drained the battery. Madnug toppled backward from the force of the robot bursting free from the rubble. They leaped, flipped gracefully heels-over and touched for a moment on the encroaching cave roof. A subtle gesture, and some large-bladed weapon sprang to their touch from the darkness and nowhere.

Nanako saw the robot push off and _cleave into_ the cavern-filling abomination. The sound of shearing metal and bone was profound. The roiling cadaver-scape should have felt a tiny cut. But the _thing_ shuddered, _screeched_ in agony. It shrank. Soon the cave was only half full. Nanako lost sight of that robot. She searched around— there! By the back wall! They held their weapon in two hands and wordlessly leaped back into the fray. This swing Nanako saw. Circular, with a huge follow-through. It cut far wider than it ought to have.

Another cut, and it was a quarter-full. One final slice left only a macabre litter on the floor. None of it moved any longer. Madnug shut down his thrusters before they could burn streaks into the dirt.

The robot touched down lightly, as poised as a dancer.

“Wow! That was... that was incredible!” Nanako called out, running across the wide, empty hall past the remaining debris. She panted with pent-up nerves and breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “What-- what was..!?”

“That,” said the unknown robot, “was _a shamble_.”

Their voice was refined, yet dejectedly flat. Up close, they were certainly a Lacroan knight gundam: all gothic curves like a work of art. Being buried in untold amounts of dead weight hadn’t even scratched their violet paint. Must have been magic.

They dismissed their wickedly sharp weapon like a magician banishing a silk handkerchief. “You should leave this place,” they advised. “‘Tis nowhere for the unprepared.”

“What?! Hey,” Nanako grumbled. Madnug didn’t seem to think it was an insult, but when the other gundam turned and began to walk away into the dark, _she_ definitely did. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going? We just— I…! Ugh! I’m not done talking to you!”

\--

“My queen, I do not wish to appear faint-hearted to you. I worry.”

Zero could admit this to his queen in the late hours of the night, in an otherwise abandoned library study. Her loyal guard, he was trusted to remain at her side in any reasonable circumstance. But Queen Relejimana privately knew that the inverse also was true.

There were very few that Zero the Winged Knight revealed any sort of personal weakness to by choice. Relejimana was honored that she had his confidence: not only as his sovereign, but as his friend.

“About the usual sort of thing?” Relejimana asked. “Or something else?”

“A mixture. A multitude of concerns, falling like arrows to pierce my brow.”

“You’re a thespian, Zero,” said Relejimana. “It’s all right. You may speak freely to me.”

She turned her page. She was studying code and rites for the week ahead. It was necessary and very dull. But there was, she’d found, more than one way to be royal to her subjects.

“I worry first about Neotopia. You know this. It is so unlike their ways to strike in hostility. Then to hear that they too were beset at the very same time! All our enemies are defeated, are they not?”

“Only the ones we know about,” Relejimana said unhappily. “I share your feelings in this, Zero. There is no doubt in my mind that this is treachery, and not from Neotopia. But I can understand the court’s hesitation to accept that.”

It was uncommon for Zero to sound resentful. But he could be spiteful, in his own way. “They have been hesitant at all the most important junctures. About you, and your word. Despite all that they owe to you.”

“And to you, Zero. And our friends and allies,” Relejimana assured. “But you’re correct. They did not experience what you did. They don’t see the true reasons to break from long tradition, and are slow to trust. They rose from a stone sleep to find their neighbors destroyed and mortal enemies either defeated or turn-coat.”

Zero shook his helm. “That is another issue on my mind. Of a sort. I don’t know what to make of… hm…” he paused. “Shute’s sister certainly chooses her company, doesn’t she?”

“Yes. Though Madnug’s appearance was not a surprise to me. I was forewarned before the fateful test. And it seems to have succeeded— despite a difficult landing. But I wasn’t told of young Nanako.”

“Is she aware? Of him?” Zero said experimentally. “Despite her strange and unfortunate association with the Commander Sazabi, I don’t believe he has ever divulged such a secret. Captain has told me that Gerbera’s evil is a sore topic with him.”

Relejimana nodded, looked up from her tome. She shut it when she saw Zero was truly conflicted, and could understand why. “Neotopia is a remarkable place, to tame such a foe and bring him so fiercely to their side.”

“The Commander Sazabi is not tame,” said Zero sardonically. “And after today’s events, you see Nanako isn’t either.”

But the queen only laughed. Here with her good friend, less stately and more girlish than she’d ever permit in public. “Why, Zero, I was told Shute was only ten when he leaped feet-first into the Dark Axis to free you from a _rubber prison_.”

“I… I assure you, it was more complicated than _that_ , my Queen!”

It wasn’t exactly nice to fluster her subject this way, but Relejimana was glad that it took him out of such dark places. She shook her head, smiled at her poor, long-suffering friend. “I’m sure it was. I hope Nanako does not face danger to that extent. I can’t imagine anything would prove too much for Gemini, do you?”

“The Sphere sustained unimaginable losses. Even ten years hence they remain in seclusion. It was… unnatural to see such blackguards mourn their dead, when I confronted them before.”

“Deathscythe betrayed them as much as he did my family. He would not have buried them otherwise,” said Relejimana. “But I don’t think he ever returned to the scene of that crime. With luck, they will have healed some. As we have.”

Zero hesitated.

“You’re not _afraid_ of the upcoming accolade, are you?”

Zero said, “No, my Queen,” but very obviously meant, “Yes, my Queen.”

So Queen Relejimana did not press the matter further. She had once given him the greatest, ultimate responsibility one of his order could undertake. Success had been hard-won, and had left him nearly the last of his kind. Now there would be more knights in his order. And more that he might fail.


	10. Thread— Sad news.

 

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Sad news.

1

Beryl

| 

Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:00 PM

I hate to break bad news to the group but after the strange attack earlier today I was looking at the obituaries just in case. Thank God the SDG saved everyone today but I did see several people declared missing in the Neotopia Tower rescue earlier this week are now officially dead.  
www.nnn.uc/298/4/22/obituary-memorial-report/story.html

One of them was a GM by the name Charlie. That sounded familiar, so I did a little digging... it turns out he's Bravo's husband.  
  
---|---  
  
Gameboy99

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:11 PM

( ⁰д⁰) they got Dyna Robo's husband...

SmOKe handle: Gameboy9_9 NOW STREAMING WEEKLY  
  
DiyaSodi

Malamech GF <3

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:14 PM

OMG NO

I could add a sig. .. or I could bean you with a can of peaches... decisions decisions!  
  
Chiaxx

ya girl

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:20 PM

NO!!!!

Have you hugged your Nega Robo stan today?  
  
ERRORS

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:23 PM

Should we do anything? Send a gift or something? Would that be weird? Bravo's like a famous actor and being Dyna Robo! was like... not his biggest thing so would it be weird if that came out of nowhere? I don't want to be a creepy fan but man

that's just

idk

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:28 PM

The zakos that blew up at the tower and in peace park were sad too guys.

zako.  
  
Beryl

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:33 PM

> elbie.
> 
> The zakos that blew up at the tower and in peace park were sad too guys. 

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive. You're right, the whole situation is horrible. Normally our little fandom is just so unimportant, I felt shocked about learning this connection.   
  
Gameboy99

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 7:45 PM

shatterrock's feed is huge and he had a whole memorial thing bc of how many people called in. Dynarobo is so small it's safe. Nothing bad happens here.

SmOKe handle: Gameboy9_9 NOW STREAMING WEEKLY  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: Sad news.

Posted 4-22-298 at 8:00 PM

Oh no.

Is that what you guys felt like back then?

zako.  
  
1


	11. The Abyssal Sphere's Judgement!

“Come on… please? You’re not even going to introduce yourself?”

Nanako was jogging backwards through the dark tunnel, not sure if she should aim her flashlight over her shoulder or who she was talking to. The knight gundam rolled their optics begrudgingly at her. Madnug took up the rear. She made eye contact with him and shrugged. He was less willing to make a fuss about the stranger, no matter his confusion.

“No,” said the strange gundam.

“We just busted you out of the worst ball pit of zombie parts ever,” Nanako begged. “What’s your deal?”

“My deal is that you’re no use to me,” said the gundam. “If you don’t even know the nature of what I subdued.”

Nanako threw up her arms. The flashlight beam scattered on the smooth ceiling. “Oh, okay! I’ll go study up on evil magic stuff, then I can talk to you!”

“I don’t think we have time for that,” Madnug said.

“I’m being sarcastic,” grumbled Nanako. “It’s not like I can ring Zero up like, ‘hey, your guy ditched us, we had a rumble in the morgue, how do you get undead stank out?’”

“You’re still holding onto a femur,” Madnug observed.

“That’s what this is? Gross,” Nanako said and dropped it. It receded backwards into the dark behind her. She wiped her hand on her overalls.

The other gundam tried to walk faster, but only managed to go forth with more clanking. Nanako jogged faster backward. This annoyed them.

“So what brings you to creepy quest hole?” Nanako asked.

“A quest, obviously,” the gundam rebuffed.

“Us too!” Nanako replied. “We’ve got to go see the Sphere people for the Queen. The shambling-graveyard thing was kind of a bust. For you too.”

That irritated the gundam enough to speak more than a few words at a time. “A shamble is not a thing. It is a spirit, and I’ve never known one to inhabit the bodies of the dead. I would have avoided it, had I known. They usually possess and multiply ordinary garbage.”

“The Sphere sure has some garbage, then.”

“It was likely placed here to prevent anyone from making off with their cadavers, or to swallow hapless travelers. Much like that pit you are about to walk into.”

Nanako stopped on her heel, ramrod straight. A sheer cliff plunged behind her, opening into another gaping cavern. This one certainly artificial: an excavation by magic. Nanako’s flashlight barely reached the other side. A black pinhole continued the path, as if the tunnel predated whatever had sliced the plunging canyon into the earth.

“Shame for you. You have no way across. We part,” said the knight gundam, who did not sound like it was a shame for them at all. “Try not to perish on—”

Madnug began to walk forward.

“—your…”

And he walked off of the cliff.

“way…”

And he walked into midair.

“... out?”

And he continued to walk upon the surface of what looked like nothing at all. “Neat! See-through bridge,” Nanako said, and gathered up some dirt from the floor. “Wait up, Madnug!”

He stopped, watched as she threw handfuls of the stuff in the path before her. The way emerged like a sugar-dusted pastry. “I see now. This path is invisible to the spectral range of the human eye. I had been compositing near-infrared imagery.”

Nanako scattered more dirt and walked by him, desperately not looking down. “I saw this trick in a TV show once,” she admitted. “But like… Madnug... If the dirt doesn’t become invisible when it hits the invisible floor, does that mean somebody comes and sweeps up so it stays invisible? Is it cheaper to make it only invisible to people without night vision goggles? Why not make all kinds of light bend around it, is that too hard? How does that work anyway? Why make a bridge invisible at all if it’s still gonna be there? Why not make a bridge that actually disappears for real if you wanna keep people out?”

“I have no answers whatsoever,” said Madnug. “But these are excellent questions.”

“Who are you?” asked the purple robot, as they caught up. In the tone of someone that anticipated to regret asking.

Madnug surprised Nanako when he spoke first.

“I am Madnug, GP04 unit in the SDG’s series of combat-ready mobile citizens. This is Nanako. She is my friend.”

Nana’s grin faded as the robot rolled their eyes at the gesture. “And you say the Queen Herself tasked you to be here? An automaton and an unlicked cub.”

Nanako wanted to shoot back something about a very baroque lawnmower, but she stopped herself. That was stupid. That wasn’t going to help anything. She could let loose and let the robot have it, but then they’d never get anywhere. She’d ruin any chance to learn anything forever to roast them for less than a minute.

Heck! That Gundam probably wanted it that way.

So Nanako ignored the insult to her friend. He seemed unhurt anyway. “Yeah,” she said carefully. “We’re here investigating an attempted assassination.”

“Oh? Of whom?”

“The Queen,” Nanako said.

The robot didn’t exactly make an attitude about-face. But they went a different kind of quiet. Their voice was less derisive when they muttered, “Impossible.” Then after some short time, a feeble question, “Is she…?”

Madnug assured them, “The attempt was unsuccessful. The Queen of Lacroa is in good health.”

But Nanako still wanted to find out, “who wants to know?”

The robot worried about this. It was strange to see anyone so guarded about revealing their own name to Nanako. Considering that from what she knew, Lacroan folk threw their grandiose introductions around with an enthusiasm second only to Musha Gundams.

“I am called Blanche,” said the robot.

“Well, thanks, Sir Blanche,” said Nanako. When the robot didn’t respond she worried if she’d sounded too sarcastic. “No, no, really! For saving us back there! I just wanted to meet you, I didn’t mean to, like, interrogate you—”

“Dame.”

“What?”

“A female knight is titled Dame, not Sir,” said Blanche.

Nanako bit her lip. “Sorry,” she said.

“Now that unfortunately we’ve been introduced,” said Blanche, “I had meant to make this journey alone and in secret, and burden no one with my presence or absence. ‘Tis fortunate that you are not… one of my peers, sent to retrieve me.”

Madnug asked, “How would they have known your location? Queen Relejimana made clear that she had not deployed any knight gundam to the Abyssal Sphere.”

“True, foreigner. Ah, well. It was presumptuous to assume so much fuss would be made over me.”

“So, trying again,” Nanako attempted, “what brings you to super nasty keep-out tunnel?”

“Personal business,” said Blanche. “Don’t think me secretive when I say it… it’s petty and uninteresting. Far less important than my Queen’s safety. Mana! I shouldn’t have come. The instant I leave, such a grave misfortune… By whom? What knave dared strike Her Majesty?”

Nanako had seen at least one outburst of drama from Zero, so she was sort of prepared for the rambling monologue that this gundam might conjure up from their Lacroan heart. Blanche, though, was less theatrical. She sounded personally struck, almost in grief. She went through the stages. Shock. Denial was past: now onto anger.

“GMs from the embassy,” said Nanako uncomfortably. Then when she saw the fury in the knight gundam, she added, “Hey! Hey, don’t get us wrong! The queen thinks it’s some kind of evil magic trick. That’s why we’re here.”

Blanche’s snort of derision echoed back down the tunnel. It was a weirdly expressive, human-like emote. “Unsurprising, but I doubt the Sphere are the culprits. They have black magics enough to enthrall even powerful spirits, but I don’t think they could compel anyone of flesh or frame. And they do not work their arts for free.”

The caves on the other side of the chasm were as gloomy as the caves behind them. They walked along all together for tense minutes until the path ahead was cut entirely. The tunnel sheared upward. Like two misaligned pipes. Cold air poured in from above, sinking to ther lower level.

“This does not seem to be a natural fault,” said Madnug. “Another deliberate obstruction.”

Blanche looked up at the wall. “I imagine it was intended to keep out any who cannot fly.”

She said this with an ashamed waver. “You can’t fly, can you?” Nanako asked. Her voice felt flat.

Blanche avoided her eyes.

“You’re not… actually a knight, are you?” she continued. A pressure was building in her forehead. Her face felt tight and hot.

“I…” Blanche hesitated. “No. Not yet.”

Madnug said, “I sympathize. I cannot surmount this obstacle without my booster rockets.”

“Ugh!” Nanako said. “This is…. This is so ridiculous! You’re both kidding me! That wall can’t be more than twelve feet high!”

“Twelve or twelve hundred feet, I… I regrettably cannot climb a sheer surface,” said Blanche. “It will take some time to bypass with magic.”

“No! I just…” Nanako groaned, holding her pounding head. “I’m having a mood swing.”

“Your vitals are alarmingly off-average,” said Madnug. “Are you… all right?”

Nanako leaned on the wall, grounding her arms. She wanted to hit something. “I… I can’t believe this! We’ve come all this way, we’re not going to turn back because of a twelve-foot wall!”

She pinched her eyes shut and counted backwards from twenty.

“I mean, I can think of like, three different things to do. But let’s go with this one. Madnug, you’re really strong, right? Can you throw Blanche up there?”

“Affirmative,” said Madnug. Blanche didn’t look happy about it, but conceded to let Madnug boost her and then gently toss her at the cliff’s lip. After a few minutes of scrambling and fighting to pull up, she reached the top.

“Now what?”

“Blanche, can’t you use magic to pull that big weapon thing out of nowhere?”

“Yes, my scythe,” she said, shouting down from above. “What do you want with it?”

“I have rope, but it’s not strong enough to carry Madnug, I don’t think. But I bet you could use that thing to reach down and hook Madnug, and lift him up.”

It wasn’t as good for climbing as rope, but the scythe made a passable hook. Madnug grabbed onto it, and with some heaving he was at the top, too.

“Nanako! We should have moved you up here first,” Madnug said. “I could have thrown you easily.”

“No, this is on purpose,” said Nanako. “Watch this.”

Madnug’s light shined down on her. She turned off her own flashlight, got out her gymnastics grip gloves from her front pocket. As she put them on and snapped them tight, she backed up a few meters. She measured the height by eye.

Then she ran at the cliff at full tilt. She had to check her strides. One, two, three, she left the ground. Onto the wall. The trick was to push off the wall rather than try to direct force downwards. She scaled it in two bounds and one big leap. She hooked the stone lip and then drew her legs up into a crouch. It was simple to shift her weight up and over the ledge.

Soon she was wiping the dirt from her hands and getting her flashlight. Two Gundams were staring at her.

“Only people who can fly, come on, seriously…”

\--

Not much farther into the tunnel, the caverns smoothed themselves to an artificial shine. Then, reliefs rose from the walls like fingerprints, geometric symbols that Madnug and Nanako could not decipher, but Blanche paid no attention to. All of this culminated in a large slab door.

“I request passage,” Blanche called. “In accordance with the pact of earth and sky, that culminates the Universe.”

The doors opened. The cavern inside was expansive, and unlike the halls outside lit from above by shining mirror panels. It rose around them as they entered, rank after rank of levels like an audience hall. There was some evidence of habitation: scraps of paper, a certain smell that suggested food or distant quarters. Before them it was deserted though, and their footsteps echoed.

An enormous and difficult sigil etched into the floor. Nanako could feel the draft emanate from it, as if the marks were cut impossibly deep into the ground. It was definitely some magic stuff, because Blanche almost lowered herself to hands and knees to study it. Madnug scanned, but made no comment.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I have not had the privilege to visit the Garden of Wisdom,” said Blanche. “But I do not believe I would find this there. Mana preserve us, what a sigil.”

“I do not have any data on its significance,” said Madnug.

Blanche composed herself. “I cannot imagine the force of magic to summon and bind a spirit of such incredible size. It is little wonder that the villain Deathscythe did not want any so skilled to survive and challenge him.”

“Deathscythe?” Nanako asked quietly. The caves took the name and amplified it nonetheless. “He came here, too?”

An unfamiliar voice spoke before them. “He did more than pass by, child.”

Nanako looked up. A figure dressed in tailored black robes was shouting down at them. Soon joined by another of similar height and build. They both stood square, with hands folded behind them. They were, for all Nanako could tell, human.

Blanche lowered herself to kneel, face cast downwards. “Disregard the youth. She knows nothing,” said the Lacroan Gundam. “Wise ones of the shadowed path, I approach humbly and beg your mercy. With me, I carry price for your counsel and service.”

From behind these humans came the dim plate optical displays of Lacroan mecha. Looming in the dark. Not pawn Leos: taller, more imposing, and certainly armed. Their numbers were disheartening. Nanako looked behind, only to see how completely they surrounded.

“You do not bear more significance than the child, gundam,” scolded the other human. “You behold the darkness of ignorance, and mistake it for a void that contains nothing. But we will not throw you to the Virgos for this mistake. What is your name, Gundam?”

“I am Blanche. Squire to the Knights of Lacroa. Sworn to the service of the Queen. I am here with fair price for a trivial request.”

The humans deliberated among themselves for a painful minute. “We know of you. As for what you have to offer, its value remains to be seen. But your resemblance to the fateful Deathscythe is no coincidence. You were destined to appear before us.”

Blanche bowed into to the ground as if she wished to sink into it and never emerge. Nanako had heard the story about Deathscythe before. But whatever the mech had looked like was lost: a painful memory, no photographs or portraits. Zero would hardly speak his name if not in recounting his triumph, or cursing the foe’s wickedness.

But Blanche didn’t look very wicked or frightening at all. She was even pretty, if aggressively designed. But pointy bits and spikes were no reason to judge a robot. Or any person. Nanako wondered if Lacroa was the sort of place full of people who you couldn’t take to a rock concert.

“‘Tis a… problem… I wish to address,” said Blanche miserably. “I… I have come before you to beg your mercy, you who my predecessor ravaged."

She arrived at her question.

"I ask for only this: to change my fate.”

The Abyssal Sphere did not acknowledge the difficulty she had facing them. “What will pay our fee?”

The gundam’s hands were shaking as she plucked an object from midair. “I bring you, from the royal garden, a true princess rose. Carried personally— not facsimile, conjured, or any knights’ cantrip. A treasure hoarded by my predecessor. I relinquish it freely.”

The Abyssal Sphere seized the delicate violet rose in a grasp of magic and floated it up to their level. Nanako didn’t think this ominous, impersonal arrangement was to be menacing anymore. It was more like a fearful security measure. They wouldn't come within arms' reach to accept even a single peaceful flower.

“A royal gift,” said one of the humans. They held the rose in a delicate grasp.

“I in turn accept your will,” said Blanche.

But the second human merely laughed. It was an ironic, self-satisfied laughter. Bitter to the pith. “Your fate has already been changed. We can do no more for you. But we will accept your tribute.”

Blanche did not speak for a painful stretch of time. She did not know what to do, or if she did, she was too shocked to proceed. She rose at last, ashamed. “Thank you,” she mumbled. She had gained nothing.

“Next in audience, step forward.”

Was that, like, a big step? A little step? A kind of… Nanako just decided to wing it, and walked forward boldly with Madnug by her side. She did her best little curtsey, which was probably pretty bad, and hoped they’d bear with her for not being that great at Lacroan stuff. Madnug didn’t do anything. He was scanning the audience above.

“Declare yourselves, and your origin, and your purpose here.”

“I am the GP04 Madnug,” Madnug said. He had been introducing himself a lot lately.

“I’m Nanako Ray,” said Nanako. “We’re from Neotopia. The Queen sent us here to ask you some questions.”

The two humans did not move, but their chatter above was more surprised than when facing Blanche. The knight gundam looked upon them miserably.

“We believe you are the first from another world to set foot in these halls. We trust it is in goodwill, for our obstacles have never been tested by mettle of other planes.”

“Uh, they were pretty tough,” said Nanako. She hoped she was being flattering. “But we’re not here for any bad reason. We just need some answers.”

The first of the humans shook their head. “Asking questions and receiving answers are entirely different. What do you have to exchange for our service?”

“We were not informed that we had to take such action,” said Madnug. “Queen Relejimana sent us with nothing.”

The Abyssal Sphere was unmoved. “We have pledged fealty to the Queen, through her Representative. You are neither. And your ally is no knight yet. You must pay.”

“What do we do?” Nanako whispered. “I think we’re in trouble.”

“Is there anything that we have, that they would take?” Madnug ventured. “I do not have anything of interest to them but data. What format would they accept?”

Nanako mumbled to herself. “I don’t think they do normal technology. Maybe I can fudge it.” Then she gasped. “Yeah, I can do that…”

She slung her backpack to the ground and rummaged inside. She pulled out her emergency candy.

“Okay, Abyssal Sphere. So you know I’m not the first person from Neotopia to venture in Lacroa. My brother, Shute, helped Zero and the Queen to liberate the kingdom. I was told this story that, he met three wise keepers of a spirit egg. And when they turned to stone, he promised them he’d return for them. Well, it’s no cake, but I have this. Candy from my dimension.”

They took the bag of candy from her with magic. It floated up there serenely. They opened it. And ate some. And said, “This is acceptable.”

Nanako grinned.

“For one of you. What will be exchanged for the other?”

“Crap,” Nanako whispered. “What now?”

“I really do not have anything,” Madnug said worriedly.

“If nothing is given, either he must leave, or we shall take him.”

“Well, what kinds of things do you normally take?” Nanako asked.

The Abyssal Sphere announced, “Significance, riches, and secrets, fledgling.”

“Can I pay for Madnug?” Nanako also asked. “There’s nothing secret about him.”

“We will permit this.”

Nanako promised, “I’ll give you my worst, darkest secret. How about that?”

The Virgos behind did nothing, but the two humans of the Abyssal Sphere actually sat down on the rim of the audience platform to listen. “Potentially intriguing.”

And she began,

“This takes some context, all right? So, I was eight years old. That’s around when school picks up in Neotopia. And all kids go to school. And when you go to school, you usually have to work together in groups to do some of the projects. To teach you how, I guess.

And usually, that’s okay. But that was up until I met Trevor.”

She said Trevor with a totally uncharacteristic malice. It dropped from her lips like napalm, so twisted by her sneer that it was barely the name of a human being.

“Trevor is the worst. There’s no one worse than Trevor. He was awful to everybody, even teachers. He never worked with anybody. And he always ruined everything. Every time. Not because he had a hard time with it. Just for fun. Because he liked to ruin stuff. And then he played dumb about it. He knew teachers told us to be nice to everyone and he ran as far as he could with it. Everybody hated him, and he loved it.

Well, I got set up to do my project with him. And he didn’t do anything, I had to do it all myself, and then he ruined it anyway and blamed it on me and some other girls. And when I told my mom, some teachers about this, they wouldn’t do anything.

So I decided to do something about him.”

Nanako’s words were getting more and more resentful. Caught somewhere between a grimace and a grin.

“But I couldn’t just punch him. He’d never accept he’d get beat up for a real reason. I had to punish him in a way he’d understand. And remember. Forever.

So I got a shovel and invited him out during recess to the edge of the ball field. Before he got there, I dug up a big old rotting stump in the ground. A giant nest of carpenter ants. When he got there, he asked me why I called him out there. And I told him,

‘Trevor, you must be punished.’

And I reached down into the ground, and picked up the ants nest in my hands, and smashed it over his head.”

Blanche sighed.

Nanako insisted, “But that’s not the secret.”

“Continue,” said the Abyssal Sphere. Their faces were fascinated with disgust.

“When my mom came to get me, they made me apologize to him. I had to say I was sorry, and that I knew what I did was wrong, and that I’d never do it again, and that I knew why I was going home from school.”

But Nanako smiled, and her words came out in the shape of that smile: jagged and pitiless. “The secret is, I lied. I’m not sorry. I never was sorry. I’ll never be sorry. If you sent me back in time, I’d do the very same thing all over again. And I’d be happy to do it. It’s what Trevor deserved. I never saw him again.”

“Girl, you can’t expect the Abyssal Sphere, masters of the Mana of Darkness, to accept a tattle as fair price for—”

But the members of that order hushed Blanche’s protests. “A pure account of darkness, hatred, and resentment. Strange youth, your kindness hides a crooked smile.”

Blanche was flabberghast.

“What a fantastic price. Worth far more than petty trinkets or symbolic gestures. What is it that you wish to know?”

\--

That was how Nanako and Madnug ended up explaining current events to dark magicians who lived in a cave. Exploring and meeting new people sure seemed to involve a lot more explaining than Shute had ever told her it would. But then again, she’d heard that the first time Bakunetsumaru and Zero had met, it was crossing blades because the Musha gundam hadn’t the patience to sort it out at first.

(Maybe this said less about the importance of explaining and introductions, and more about Bakunetsumaru.)

But finally by the end of it, the Abyssal Sphere withdrew. Deliberated. Returned with more of their number. Several were young. They were not especially grim-looking, even for acolytes. These children whispered to each other. Nanako had a feeling they’d come to stare at her in specific. They could have been around her same age. The Virgos closed tightly around the young ones after they’d had their look at ‘foreigners.’ However the Sphere had relaxed its guard in other ways.

“We understand your Queen’s worries. If our world faces such great strife again, it will be too soon,” said the Sphere’s speaker. “You are intrepid to take on Lacroan affairs. Especially as it seems so likely that your own world might be involved.”

Nanako felt a shiver in her skin that was deeper than the cavern’s natural chill. “What do you mean?”

“It was your Queen’s hope that her assailants were bewitched by Dark magic. That this affair was domestic,” said the speaker. “But we find that unlikely. It is true that through Darkness one might compel a spirit and bind it against its will, or animate a construct. But no aspect of Mana may undo the will of a living being. Not of metal, and not of meat.”

“It is never Her will,” spoke another voice. They sounded like an old wizard was supposed to sound like. “Much is permitted, depending on the nature of one’s pact with the Goddess. Including what some might consider profane. But even the Dark arts are of Mana. And Mana, who Exists In All the Universe, cannot supersede Herself.”

“Short of a Spirit’s possession, we do not know of any magic that would compel one to act in this way, against their ordinary will,” said the original speaker. “And a Spirit’s interference would be obvious to any Knight who slew them, and you would not be here for answers at all.”

“Darn,” Nanako said quietly. “So they think Neotopian people really did attack Queen Rele.”

Madnug had been observing the uncomfortable Blanche, but turned back to Nana. His head itself turned before the rest of his body.

“Nice,” Nana whispered, before he could say anything.

Madnug ignored that. “There is still no positive evidence that the aggressors attacked of their own judgement. I have not yet examined the remains. We only have established an improbability that magic was used to persuade them.”

“That’s right,” Nana whispered. Maybe Neotopia wasn’t in trouble after all. Maybe. She waved up a little at the Abyssal Sphere. Hoping she wasn’t out of line. “Well, thanks. That’s all we came here to ask. Uh, while we’ve stopped by, though… Have you ever thought about getting a phone?”

“Pardon, a what?”

Nana held up her cell phone. In the flat of her hand, so it didn’t look like a weapon. “You know, a telephone. Okay… I know you like the ‘reclusive wizards who live in a cave’ thing, but what if there was a real emergency?”

“Child, what are you doing?” Blanche hissed. “That’s ridiculous, the entire point of their gauntlet is to put barriers on who has access to them.”

The Abyssal Sphere floated the phone up. They debated this. And then floated the phone back down. Nanako wasn’t sure if she should pluck her phone out of the air, or let it fall. She took it after a moment, and it didn’t seem to have any harm done to it.

“Correct us if we err, tele-phone, far-speech. This device is capable of such things?” asked the Sphere’s representative.

“Yeah! Actually, our technology can also send a text message, or pictures or live video,” said Nanako. “It can also run games… and other programs, but I don’t know if you want all that extra stuff. I would show you, but I don’t get signal here.”

“Extraordinary. All without magic. Neotopia must be spectacular,” said the expert sage. Nanako was quickly finding these people not very creepy anymore at all. Either that, or they had come to like her, or were excited to prove their goodwill to their first interdimensional visitors.

Did that make her an ambassador?

(Oh, no…)

“It is… unprecedented that the outside would desire simple contact with us. Or seek practical counsel in worldly affairs rather than Dark secrets. We apologize that you have had to venture past our perils, and humble yourselves with our price only to exchange news. To honor us as neighbors. Of the Royal Family, and at greater distance, of Neotopia.” said the Sphere’s very wordy representative. “Your device will not operate in the depths of the earth. Instead, we offer this to your Queen. We too may find it urgent to consult her one day.”

The Sphere was doing something up at the top of their ledge, but all Nanako could look at was poor Blanche, who had in the space of minutes gone from bereft, to incredulous, to scandalized and was now back to woebegone as a small, new object floated down to them. Madnug was the one to catch it in his hands. It was a small mirror of heavy bronze, wrapped in black linen cloth.

Except that after a few minutes it reflected something that was definitely not Madnug’s face: a somewhat hesitant-looking man, and at least three other people and two robots trying to look in on the view. The speaker’s voice emanated from the mirror as well as from above, “It works?”

“Affirmative,” Madnug said. Nanako leaned into the picture and waved a little bit. Some of the spooky looking monks waved back.

“Good,” said the speaker of the Sphere. The display dulled, then reflected only dark cave and Madnug’s eyes. But he was not done. He shifted atop the cliff away from what was presumably their own copy of the mirror. “Squire Blanche. Our path is intended to deter those who’d exploit our services, or to buy us time for action should an enemy trespass. If we did not intend it to be possible for you to reach us, then we would have delayed you more decisively. And yet you languished for six days in the bosom of our dead. Do not think your presence went unnoticed.”

“Six days?” Nana mouthed.

Blanche nodded thinly.

“We assume you are now more acquainted with those Deathscythe slew,” said the Sphere. “This is not in exchange for your price, nor will it change your fate more than it has already changed. But you will take this gift from us now, or pay us great insult.”

The object was not floated down so much as thrown. It was a plain wooden box, bleached from age. A little larger than a standard jewelry box.

“I… I thank you,” Blanche said. She did not open it, and kneeled before she even knew what was inside. She was terrified. Maybe gifts could be given as a threat in Lacroa. Especially from dark and terrible sorcerers.

“We taught the one to become Deathscythe secrets of Dark Mana: specifically, the power to bind a Spirit such as the Gryphon into an object,” said the Sphere. “For such a great power, he offered a fantastical payment.”

“I dare not imagine,” Blanche stammered.

“The first egg of the well of spirits,” said the Sphere, “should his endeavor succeed.”

Blanche did not move, or speak. She was as still as a steel figure.

“He lied,” said Madnug. Nanako hadn’t heard him sound so repulsed, so horrified yet. Not even in deadly peril. “According to all other known factors.”

“Quite so. It was the greed of my own grandfather that accepted his bargain. But that word was as ephemeral as ice. Rather than keep his pact, Deathscythe slew us all. Only we few who transmuted our flesh to stone survived.”

“Bagu-bagu?”

“No. Our craft,” spoke the Sphere. “His betrayal was total and wicked. But in the end, we collected his debt. And it is that we give to you, squire Blanche. A blood price. An iron price.”

Blanche nodded.

“Now, begone.”

\--

Blanche stared at the small box in her hand more than the tunnel before her. She didn’t want to talk. Which was all right. Comforting someone was important, but maybe risky when the hurt was too fresh. Nanako didn’t know where to start.

That was why it was surprising to hear Madnug try.

“I can discern that you are not satisfied with your experience here, Blanche,” he said. “I do not understand your full motivations, but I do not agree that your presence was entirely futile.”

“You know nothing,” Blanche rebuked.

“Untrue. I do know that in practical terms, you have made a net gain of a ‘spirit egg,’ and your presence was instrumental in positive negotiations.”

Blanche groaned. It sounded a little like, “insufferable twit.”

Nanako sighed and revised her list of what had to be worked out. Too many questions were piling up.

  1. What’s up with Madnug’s weird time powers?
  2. How can we go home if something’s happened to the dimensional transport devices?
  3. Who wants to hurt Queen Rele?
  4. Why did trouble in Lacroa happen at the same time as trouble in Neotopia?
  5. Where did the purple robot from the depot meetings come from?

She added another thing to that list, even if it wasn’t a question.

  6. Talk to Madnug about being less scary if there is a fight. He is a good guy.



Nanako stepped out into the morning light. With its touch, all the hours she’d spent awake climbed on her back. She had to make a new list. Tired. Thirsty. Hungry. Dirty. Oh, no, that was almost the worst. Actual graveyard corpse dirt. Not ordinary dirt. Super-filthy dirt.

Hazily in the corner of her mind, she felt she had to move out of the way of something. It arrived like a text from her mother in the middle of the afternoon. Almost ignored, but probably important. Nanako didn’t really register what had happened until she was on the ground five feet away and her ears hurt from ordnance splitting earth. Madnug had pushed her away with enough force to knock her flying. There were three copies of Madnug. There may have originally been four decoys, but one was a smoking crater. Holograms?

Blanche dismissed her illusion with a wave of her hand, snatched her weapon from the air in the same motion. This was probably the point where, if Zero was here, he’d be demanding some villain reveal themselves. Blanche lunged and swung; a terrifying jolt of force severed trees and bushes. They crunched down. Something seized the haft of Blanche’s scythe on the backswing. Its strength was immense, ripped the weapon out of her grip.

It was enough time for Madnug to grab hold of his own guns and fire a careful shot into the rapidly failing cover. Splintered wood finally settled. Off to the side, the mecha-horse that was still tethered to its cart pulled madly to escape. Madnug’s gunfire had hit a large shield. Out of the brush stepped a sizeable green robot. The only arms it carried was that shield. It was huge, with powerful crushing pincers that reminded Nanako of an army ant. The whole robot did, in fact. It had one optic, but was definitely not Axian. While it reversed its hold on Blanche and pinned her protesting to the ground, it gestured at Madnug with a slender, three-fingered hand.

“You,” it said, in a harsh codec. The decay of it was too abrupt, transforming even a single word into a demand. “You are the one It needs.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Madnug said, maintaining his aim. “I have been granted probationary dispensation to use firearms to preserve myself and my objectives.”

He paused.

“For the time being, I have expanded these parameters to include my friends and associates,” he clarified. “Release her.”

“I see no reason to,” said the robot.

Nanako took out her phone. She took a picture of the unknown green robot. Its gaze flicked to her. “It is tragic to see you in the company of filthy animals,” it said.

“While it is taxonomically true that Nanako is an animal, you will not refer to her that way,” Madnug said.

“I don’t really care what they think, but thanks,” Nanako said, while sending a text message, 

Madnug  
  
Stall for time?

He nodded, but did not verbally respond to her.

“You break my heart to see you this way, Gerbera,” said the robot.

“That is not my name,” said Madnug. “And even if it was, I do not wish to associate with you. Release Blanche.”

“If it will appease your superficial programming, I will exchange her for yourself,” said the robot. “But it is a pointless formality. You have evaded us once, but your cooperation is inevitable. It has already happened.”

Madnug was unmoved.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Nanako asked.

“Do not speak to me, animal.”

“Answer her question,” said Madnug. “Or I will not consider your bargain.”

The robot clenched its pincher more tightly around Blanche. She struggled on the ground, began to curse under her breath. Nanako winced.

“Whether I am a stranger or not will be nothing to your opinion of me, when all is done,” said the robot. “I am the unit known as Beta Sigma, constructed as Bolinoak Sammahn.”

“Sounds like a bunch of BS to me,” said Nanako.

“Listen here, creature! I serve a greater force than you can comprehend! If I wasn’t holding this trivial Knight Gundam down, I would flay you in seconds!”

Nanako sneered at the Beta Sigma robot. “It looks like you’re holding on to a whole lot of nothing,” she said.

And that looked true, because Blanche had vanished. From the robot’s cry of surprise, Blanche was gone not just from ordinary vision but also from a robot’s other senses. Madnug fired. Beta Sigma moved their shield to block an otherwise mortal shot. Blanche’s scythe moved on the ground on its own before the gundam re-appeared holding it. That robot barely withstood Blanche’s strike, trying to catch the blade again. She did not cut clean through the shield, but sheared a wide rip in it. Metal made horrible sounds when it was cut like that. The mecha-horse shied again, trying to drag itself away.

“How unfortunately you resist! I had hoped not to need any local help,” said Beta Sigma. He… threw something? A handful of something? He had pockets?

Nanako stopped thinking about how silly that last question was when the dozen dice he had thrown became robots when they hit the earth. Through magic— and not Leos. Something taller and definitely more formidable-looking: painted a solid black.

“Taurus! Kill the knight and the human. Disable the other.”

Their arrows and swords definitely were more serious than Leo weapons, too. Nanako bolted to the tied-up cart for cover, or to think of something, anything she could do in a fight between robots. What did Shute do? Did he just hide off to the side? Where was he in situations like this? Where did you go?

It was extremely lucky of her that she didn’t have to make something up at this time. Thundering horses trampled the clearing, interrupting the fight. Led by Gemini, the three other squires of Lacroa made quick work of the surprised enemy. Griepe speared many on his lance. Another squire sliced them apart with cold, curved blades. His equal took hold of a double-ended trident to cull the number.

But by far their teacher was the most effective. Aerial, he changed grip on a massive broadsword. Much larger than Zero’s buster sword. He thrust it to the morning light, called magic into his grasp.

“Mana! I culminate your will! By your sacred power, may our foes be rebuked!”

The Taurus cowered at the sight of him.

“Hyperion blade, forged from a ray of light! Dawn breaker!”

Nanako had never seen magic used for battle before. Zero didn’t exactly fling his most powerful spells around, just funny cantrips and flowers. And whatever tricks Blanche had done seemed trivial compared to that beam slamming down. Even when she opened her eyes again she was dazzled. There were definitely no more Taurus. There were fewer trees, even felled ones. The squires struggled to contain their horses’ panic.

“Beta Sigma got away,” Nana said, when she could finally see again and there was no trace of any remains.

Madnug agreed after a scan. “I was not able to discern the method of escape. Knight Gemini, your power is impressive. My sensors were overwhelmed.”

“It is the least of my duties to drive off miscreants,” he said. “I apologize for my lateness. My task brought me farther afield than I would have preferred.”

“Your assistance is still appreciated,” said Madnug.

Then Gemini turned to Blanche. She froze. She may have wanted to go invisible again.

“You! At last I find you here,” he said. “Truant.”

No matter what Madnug or Nanako said, they couldn’t overturn official discipline. Blanche returned to Lacroa castle bound at the wrists.


	12. Thread— stArspotting (298 edition)

 

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stArspotting (298 edition)

123

DiyaSodi

Malamech GF <3

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 3:25 PM

i was going through old stuff from a few years ago. remember the cache up on top of peace park 3?? this is from the camera roll that day, a piece of a panoramic photo I took. There's somebody on the platform across from us taking a picture of us!! 

I think star watches us when we find the goal guys!!

I could add a sig. .. or I could bean you with a can of peaches... decisions decisions!  
  
---|---  
  
stAr

Administrator

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 3:30 PM

Haha... that's not me. Good guess though. B)  
  
CamV

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 3:30 PM

> DiyaSodi.
> 
> i was going through old stuff from a few years ago 

when you say it like that my brain hurts. a few YEARS ago??? I just joined a few months ago and i never look at archived threads so I forgot...

How can you guys play geocache for YEARS and never catch the person who sets them?

Cam is a boys' AND girls name!! Fanart   
  
Beryl

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 8:02 PM

Diya is exaggerating a little, 'a few years ago' is only 2 years. Still, we've had 12 of these and never caught stAr or figured out who they are. stAr just must really be that good. 

To tell the truth, nobody would be trying to figure out stAr's identity if they didn't challenge us to the very first time we played. We're not stalking them.  
  
Gameboy99

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 8:25 PM

I got this pic last time... it was 3 AM and the streets were deserted, I saw someone out there near the goal and i ran after them ε=ε=┌( >_<)┘ 

I missed them around the corner but I came really close. The cache's timer had only set a few minutes before so it HAD to be them. how fast IS stAr???

SmOKe handle: Gameboy9_9 NOW STREAMING WEEKLY  
  
elbie.

zako

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 8:26 PM

I keep saying that I think stAr is a robot. The only clue we have is that they said they weren't a GM. Why would they be so specific?

zako.  
  
Chiaxx

ya girl

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 8:27 PM

> elbie.
> 
> The only clue we have is that they said they weren't a GM. 

yeah I guess I'm safe you guys, you don't have to suspect me of being stAr lmao

Have you hugged your Nega Robo stan today?  
  
elbie.

zako

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 8:28 PM

I'm still betting on stAr being an Axian. I remember when they wrote that essay on the similarities between _Dyna Robo!_ and the archetypical axian war-myth. No offense to you humans but that's just not something many of you know or care about.

zako.  
  
ERRORS

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 2-14-298 at 9:45 PM

> elbie.
> 
> I'm still betting on stAr being an Axian. I remember when they wrote that essay on the similarities between Dyna Robo! and the archetypical axian war-myth. 

idk, _dyna robo!_ was made by an axian, so they could have just been doing research based on that.

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
ERRORS

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Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 4-23-298 at 10:40 AM

Hey all, I was thinking about different threads yesterday and I'm getting kind of freaked out. I'm in the bathroom between periods is anybody online?

I know this is a thread meant for a game but we might need to take finding a missing person seriously. Where's star???

They haven't been online for a few days after what happened and I've sent them some pms and they haven't answered.

star posts almost EVERY day.

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
ERRORS

| 

Re: stArspotting (298 edition)

Posted 4-23-298 at 10:41 AM

guys star might be dead.

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
123


	13. Darkness In High Towers

There wasn’t anything to undo how bad the trip was. Nanako spent most of it asleep. She didn’t want to talk to Madnug with all these people around. She couldn’t talk to Blanche, who sat somber beside her— no comfort while being punished. There was no point arguing with Gemini after he’d refuted her, or any of the other squires.

They didn’t mind Blanche’s treatment at all. They said nothing about it. None of them spent even a moment sneaking some comfort, or had stood up for her at all. To Nanako, who knew a few things in her short life, the problem was obvious.

Lacroa did everything it could to make her forget how those three looked at their fellow squire. They arrived back at the castle and it was all praise and joy for their safe return. Insistence that Nanako rest and bathe and Madnug clean up before presenting the response to the Queen. It was a very nice bath, too. All fancy soap and three different kinds of rose-oil and thyme in the water until Nanako remembered why she hated her Grandmother's house. And then of course her clothes had to be laundered. Which was followed by a chain of inquiries to all the courtly ladies who had young daughters to lend a shift, some skirts, to the foreign lord Shute’s illustrious sister.

When she saw Madnug again he was even cleaner-looking than when they first met. Pretty impressive considering that he’d literally been assembled only a few days before that. When they exchanged laughs over how fancy they were, Madnug’s was coldly clinical. He hadn’t even been alive for a week and hadn’t learned how to do it nicely.

But by then, they'd lost a lot of time.

“It is unfortunate,” said the Queen at dinner, after Court. “But the squire Blanche has been detained for desertion of duties. She’ll have to wait for the next accolade.”

Nanako hoped she wasn’t mixing up her forks or her glasses. Madnug was not permitted to be in this company, which included a few other members of the nobility besides the Queen. She gathered her courage to speak. “Um, I hope it’s not rude, but… is that harsh?”

The subtext being, she thought that was harsh, and unfair, and that the Queen should interfere. Nanako was soon realizing that Relejimana was bound to live her life publicly and couldn’t always talk to others in a straightforward way. Plus, there was some funny business with the upcoming ceremony and Gemini thinking it was more important to get ready for it than follow directions.

Nana didn’t know if it was the right thing to snitch on him or not yet.

“It is the lightest possible penalty in these circumstances,” said the Queen with an apologetic authority. “She was absent at the time I was attacked, and seems to have sought Dark powers for her own purposes. Even divorced from context, I cannot overlook her actions.”

While she wanted more than anything to tell Queen Rele _everything_ , she had to be tricky, too.

“For how long is she going to have to stay in the dungeon?” Nana asked, emphasizing _dungeon_.

Relejimana’s eyebrows rose so slightly it could have been missed. “Oh, only for a few weeks. But the _dungeon_ isn’t appropriate. She will be held in the west tower instead. It’s much more pleasant, to see the sun set.”

She said that like she pitied Blanche. But it told Nanako enough, even if she couldn’t thank the queen for the tip directly.

It was dark when she came up to the guest room that had been graciously provided for her and Madnug. Mostly to her. It definitely was fit for visiting nobility, though Madnug had pushed the table to the center of the room, thrown a sheet over it, and was examining two dead robots.

Nanako stared at them when she walked in. They were so much more fresh and real than the sad old wreckage in the caves. Those used to be people from Neotopia. Laying there, cold and still. They both had been drained of fluids and their chassis’ were open, one of them from a gaping rent in the torso carriage. The other from surgical disassembly. Madnug was methodically examining that one’s internal parts. Nanako saw him remove something of its engine block. He set it aside, then with a pair of forceps installed in his wrist extracted a delicate chip from underneath its shadow.

“Good evening, Nanako,” Madnug said, without looking up from his work.

“Wow, they’re super dead,” Nanako replied.

“That is preferable to the alternative,” said Madnug. He put this chip into a provided glass vessel and put it off to the right.

“Huh?”

“I would not perform this procedure should they have somehow still been alive,” Madnug elaborated.

Nana nodded. “Yeah.” She closed the door behind her. “Yeah, probably for the best.”

“Hold this, please,” Madnug asked. He pulled out some inner pump, still attached by coolant cables and coiled wiring. Nanako swallowed her feelings about it and held it up in her hands. It was light. “Thank you.”

He was undoing the couplings, maneuvering its electronic guts. Nanako watched him with wide eyes. “I’ve never… touched a dead person before. I mean, we got way more zombies touching us than we ever could want but… it’s different.”

“Mm. This is my first experience with this as well,” Madnug said. “I am loaded with specifications for most mobile citizen models, as well as my own. Though the intent was in case of repair.”

“What are you… looking for?” Nanako handed back the cooling pump to Madnug, who put it with the solid engine parts.

Madnug continued to explore the cavity, and pointed to several parts with his laser scalpel as he did so. “This subject’s cause of death is stated suicide, so their remains are relatively undamaged. While major functions have ceased, accelerometers, cooling systems, and other microcontrollers have embedded data. Their memory is not sophisticated, but will have accurately recorded operation details. These components are difficult to manipulate and might provide context.”

“So like… if these little computers remember something different than the big one…?”

“That is evidence of of error or tampering,” Madnug said. “Though there is likely to be a small native discrepancy. Less than a one-thousandth of a standard deviation. Did you enjoy your dinner?”

He began cutting a neat line down the center of the dead GM’s cranium.

“It was all right,” Nanako said. “I know you weren’t allowed to come, but you didn’t miss much. Upper crust that think robots are servants also think a lot of other icky things. Also, I don’t like salad. They have a whole fork for salad. Why?”

“I don’t know. Efficiency?”

“If I was going to be more efficient about salad, I’d just drink water while smelling grass clippings,” said Nanako. “I guess I learned some things though.”

“Oh?”

“Well, there’s the accolade in three days. That’s the ceremony that Knight Gundams take that gives them special magic powers. It's connected to the Royal Family and stuff,” said Nanako, while she watched him peel away the metal of the GM’s head. “But Blanche won’t be going. She’s being held back for running away.”

“What a shame,” said Madnug. “Despite reporting the details of our mission?”

Nanako scowled. “Gemini got to the Queen first. I said what I could, but I want to be careful before I say someone she trusts is lying. There could be trouble.”

“True,” Madnug said. He sounded worried. He extracted some major part of the GM’s processing core. “We already averted one scandal, but political trust can be undone.”

“Speaking of trust? They don’t really trust you. I guess you don’t have the same… celebrity as me,” said Nanako. “But in the other direction, you can definitely trust the Queen, and Zero. Also those three advisers of hers, Coa, Doa, and Noah. Be careful of anybody else. They know you were born like a week ago.”

“And Blanche?”

“I feel bad about her,” Nanako said. She watched him open up someone’s brain. “I know she disobeyed her teacher. But she also got into danger. And then she helped us. It’s not fair.”

“We cannot interfere with their customs,” said Madnug. “But I agree. It is a waste of her obvious potential.”

“Yeah. The SDG would forgive her,” Nanako sighed. Then she realized, and said quickly, “Madnug, she could join the SDG and then become a knight later!”

Madnug concentrated for a few seconds. Then pulled out several electronic boards. He laid them out one next to the other to catalog.

“You mean to recruit her,” said Madnug. “I would like to help, but unfortunately I must complete this task. After that, it may be possible to recover the miniature Transport Device from our crash site, and retrofit it for communications. I will be busy for approximately 62 hours, at rough estimate.”

He probably meant to make her task sound simple and his sound complex, but to Nanako they seemed equal. The more she thought about it, the more she wished her brother was here to handle it instead. He was good at that kind of thing, talking to people. Everybody liked him.

Then she shook her head. This mess didn’t have her brother here. It had her. That was the best it was going to get.

No, that was also bad.

It was a good thing it had her! There wasn’t anybody better!

“Okay. Let’s make it happen,” Nanako said. “Are you OK here alone while I go?”

“I have your communication channel,” Madnug said. “I am not alone.”

\--

The tower cell was different from any of Blanche’s ordinary accommodations in only two respects. One, it was a secluded cloister unshared with other squires. Two, the door and windows were warded by force. Indeed, the magic penetrated the walls and encapsulated the circular room.

Perhaps, an unruly guest had once pried free an ashlar and made their escape. Almost a pity they had wasted the Royal Family’s oversight, so that when it came time for her to sit in jail she had no recourse.

Well. No recourse was a strong statement. There was a hole in every spell. But Blanche did not care to cement her career as a fugitive.

She was intended to reflect on the chivalry and virtues appropriate of a Royal Knight. She could study poetry or courtly etiquette, refresh her knowledge of correct behavior. Blanche chose instead to wait. And end her awareness, for a time.

Her optics flickered, magical current roused from sleep. Her immobile armor became alert to a small knocking at the wooden shutter on the far window. A bird, doubtlessly. She settled down again, and willed what animated her to let her rest…

A sharper knocking. A banging racket! Determined birds.

“Hello? Anybody inside?”

Damned strange birds.

“No? This is the top!”

Against her better judgement, Blanche crossed the room, and with the pole hook unlatched the shutter. The low moonslight invited itself in. That girl from before instead chose to tumble through after balancing tip-toes on the shallow window ledge. Not a tumble as-in euphemism for falling on her face. Tumble as-in a tumbler, or an acrobat, to fall in a scientific fashion.

She brushed off her kirtle, which was obviously a loan, and ungirded it from above her knees. Soon she was neat and modest, as if she was an ordinary caller and not a burglar.

“Hi Blanche, this is awkward,” she said. “There, I said it before you could.”

“What did you…?” Blanche peered as far outside the window as she could before the confining spells could repulse her. “How did you come here?”

The girl twirled one bunch of her hair thoughtfully. “Well, they wouldn’t let me up the stairs. So I opened a window a few floors down. A window is a door if you want it to be, right?”

“I must ask you to leave,” Blanche insisted. “‘Tis inappropriate to be found here, with me. I can’t have you harm your reputation this way.”

But the maiden Nanako— that was her name— scoffed. “Like I care about my reputation.”

Well. That was something to say. She had no idea the implications of her being up here. Alone. With her. Of all robots. Either an innocent child, or a beastly ignorant one.

“I’m sorry. If you want, I can go. I don’t want to like… invade your personal space, or get you in trouble,” said Nanako. “But I do want to talk. I feel bad about what happened. I want to make it up to you.”

“If you’re determined to pester me, I can do nothing to stop you,” said Blanche. “My troubles are not something that a foreigner can understand.”

“Is that a real ‘can’t’ or one of the fake ‘can’ts?” said Nanako. “If you don’t want to go into your problems, that’s OK. I’m just here with an idea.”

Blanche dreaded to hear it. “And?”

“For the record, it’s totally wrong that you’re not getting promoted. Even if you broke the rules. I want to get that out there first.”

“You expect disobedience to be rewarded?”

“No. But obedience isn’t always everything,” said Nanako. “Especially when your teacher blew us off. If you weren’t there, Madnug and I would have been in real trouble. I don’t care who’s had the special ceremony. You’re the real knight.”

“Unfortunately, what you think or care about doesn’t matter,” said Blanche. It was an automatic response. She shook her head, embarrassed. “I mean to say, those are kind words. But only kind words. Undeserved ones, even. You shame me.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

The youth flattened her dress and sat on the wooden bench. At least she knew how to keep posture like a lady. Somewhat. Though it could be pleasant, Blanche had no need to recline. Her metal body did not tire in that way. But she understood the gesture: that the young lady expected an answer and was prepared for it to be a long one.

“My behavior towards you and your companion has been uncivil. I intended to scare you off. It would be easier for us both if you despised me.”

“Hey, just because somebody isn’t nice to me at first doesn’t mean I think they’ve got to be a bad person,” Nanako said. “Yuck. Imagine what kind of world that would be. We’d destroy each other the second we thought someone wasn’t sucking up.”

In some respects, that world sounded like Lacroa. True, the Royal Family did not rule through fear or conquest. But there were many in the land that played flattery and virtue as the same card. And still more that would perceive nothing as courteous enough to surmount a black mark.

“You shouldn’t be so liberal with your trust,” said Blanche. “You’ll be betrayed by one you took for granted.”

“We’re way off topic,” said the girl. “What I meant to tell you… if you can’t be a knight right away, you could join up with Madnug and me. The SDG wouldn’t throw you under the bus like Gemini did.”

“Absolutely not,” said Blanche.

The girl had a strange frown.

\--

Commander Sazabi entered the office of Chief Haro of Neotopia’s Super Dimensional Guard, his highest superior officer.

Like two apex predators, they tended to their own territories. Unlike two apex predators, when they met there was no frivolous fighting involved. Only the most dire professionalism.

“Is that _Dyna Robo!_ ?”

Chief Haro did not fumble with the remote. But he did cut the audio from one of the console screens in his neat office. It was the brightly-colored, somewhat awkwardly-designed cartoon. Its robot hero flew across the screen boldly, without fear.

Then the segment cut to an interview. The speaker’s optic flashed in slow, ponderous signal. He kept his body very still as he spoke on mute.

“We've identified all victims of the primary explosion,” Haro said. “The media has begun to interview survivors and family members, and bring their lives into the spotlight.”

“What a waste of time,” Sazabi said. “Commemorating those who are still alive.”

“They’ve already run features on the dead,” said Haro.

“Well, Haro? You and I both know that’s not it.”

Chief Haro turned aside from the consoles and looked up at Commander Sazabi. Seated, the robot reared more than a meter overhead. Haro let this imbalance slide. There was no point trying to invoke physical authority over the Commander.

Besides, he wasn’t here for a reprimand.

“I’ve read your official statements on the Antarctic St. attack and prior bombing incidents,” said Chief Haro. “But I wish to consult with you about the situation.”

“What more do you want from me? I’ve told you, and the public, everything relevant,” Sazabi grumbled. It was well-known he hated preparing press releases almost above all other duties. He complained often that there was no way to succeed at composing them.

The sharp edge to his voice was no mystery to Chief Haro.

“We both have,” Haro said. “But I wanted to hear from you directly.”

And Chief Haro’s tired sigh was no mystery to Sazabi.

“Fine. But you know as well as I do that none of mine are eager to blow themselves up. I have units already investigating the sabotage— and I am sure it is a case of sabotage,” said Sazabi. “As for the Hizacks? Not mine.”

“Hizacks?”

“The audio-video evidence our contact collected makes a reference. Trading some unit to humans in exchange for action. I can only assume that these are them.”

There was a mutual understanding about the contact.

“Haro, I find your hesitance about locating the human perpetrators of these crimes unacceptable.”

“Although the video is clear, it’s not enough to identify individuals.”

“It was a foregone conclusion that humans were to blame from the very beginning. They are self-centered and anniversial. When I invaded, I did not pick any timetable of significance to your civilization. An investigation should have been made!”

“An investigation is being made,” said Chief Haro. “But I don’t think that is why you are arguing with me now.”

Sazabi tilted his head, shook his massive frame. His ventilation let out a blast of hot air that raised the temperature in the room a tangible degree.

“How long until dimensional transport is possible?” he asked.

“Not long,” Chief Haro assured. “Actually, thank you for bringing that up.”

“Feh! Save your thanks for after I hear what you have to say.”

“I would like your contingent to take on this assignment,” said Chief Haro. “Captain Gundam and supporting members of the SDG are more than capable of protecting the population. But I’m sure you’d agree that a purely responsive approach will only lead to a prolonged threat.”

“No,” Sazabi said. “The Doga Commandos will take part in an active defense.”

“All right. That’s reasonable. Will you take the assignment personally?”

Sazabi bargained with Haro all the time. Their negotiation wasn’t exactly a ritual, and not exactly insubordination. The pretense dropped away when a direct order was necessary. But there was a certain spectre in the room, when it came to Commander Sazabi. The total dominance of the Dark Axis and the SDG’s voluntary organization were different. But both leaders refused to invoke absolute authority’s ghost, for different reasons.

“Fine. I was going to Lacroa anyway,” the Commander said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s personal business, or to collect a witness.”

They had a fairly positive relationship for two people who’d once have had the other shot. All things considered.

\--

“I don’t get it. Why not?”

Blanche sure spent a lot of time sitting in the dark. “I don’t have to explain myself,” she said.

Nana held up her hands, desperately weighing the options. “But this handles your problem! You don’t have to wait here while everyone goes on without you!”

“My ‘problem’ is not yours to solve,” said Blanche.

“But…”

“Besides, you have far too many troubles of your own to contend with,” said Blanche. “Adding mine would over-complicate.”

Nanako pouted. “Problems like _what_? I have a great life. I have lots of family who like me, I have friends, and I’m getting close to the track record, I get good grades and—”

She froze. The room was cold. And dark. And her face was hot. So was her breath.

“Oh my gosh,” Nanako whispered. “I’m missing school.”

From the unimpressed emote carried in Blanche’s optics, that meant very little to her.

“You don’t get it,” Nanako said. “I _don’t_ miss school. I don’t have a perfect attendance record anymore. And there’s no signal, I didn’t think to check my assignments…”

She hid her face in her hands. “Finals are soon!”

“I’m sure it’s not so bad as all that,” said Blanche.

“I don’t want to repeat sixth grade!”

“Ssh! Someone will hear you!”

Nanako groaned. “I’m so dead. I messed up. I’m such a dummy. Dumb, dumb, dumb…”

“That’s _quite_ enough of that,” Blanche said firmly. Nanako looked up from the tension in her palms. With magic, the gundam filled them with an illusory bouquet of white chrysanthemums. They seemed to glow in the dark room, independent of the faint moons’ light.

When the girl did not respond, Blanche grew worried. “‘Tis appropriate?”

The flowers metamorphosed into the image of a white spring rabbit. Nanako stared at it, more lifelike than any simple hologram.

“No?”

It became a glass figure of a unicorn.

Tears leaked out of Nanako’s eyes.

“I cannot _stand_ crying children,” Blanche said tiredly. “Would you have me perform charades? Is that what you want?”

Nanako burst out laughing.

“This is the opposite of what I want,” she said. “I come in here to make you feel better and you end up trying to make me feel better. Why’m I so bad at this?”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t know,” said Blanche. “But, thank you. For what trying is worth, at least.”

“Hey, do the rabbit thing again,” Nanako said. “Wait, wait, can you do it out of a hat?”

\--

After a few misunderstandings wherein Blanche turned a bonnet into a rabbit, and then turned a rabbit into a bonnet _with_ a rabbit _on_ it, she finally understood and produced an extremely lifelike rabbit out of a conjured gentleman’s cap, to Nanako’s delight.

She had to explain afterward about the cliche. “It’s a famous stage act. Before anyone in my dimension met people from Lacroa, magicians to us were slight-of-hand performers. They used optical illusions and special tools to do tricks without real magic.”

“At that point I would call their works art, more than tricks,” replied the Gundam. “To be magicians without being magicians at all.”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘magicians without being magicians?’”

Blanche, surprisingly, did not seem tired at all by this question. The opposite? This was the most comfortable that Nanako had so far seen her. “A magician is one that manipulates magic to produce an intended effect. They work through a pact with Mana to cast or manipulate the properties of spells, or bestow repeatable enchantments. Without magic, a magician cannot work their craft.”

“Magic-ian, technic-ian,” said Nanako. “So like a technician that would work with technology, but magic instead?”

“That’s right,” said Blanche. “To me, many of your technological feats are as miraculous as magic seems to be to you.”

“So if that’s a magician, what’s a wizard? Or a sorcerer? Or a warlock? Or a witch? Like, are they all names for the same kind of thing?”

“Mana, no,” Blanche said. “A sorcerer is one who studies sorcery: magic’s construction itself. The Queen has many great sorcerers that craft invocations, formulate new spells, and test the boundaries of known magical conventions. To further understand Mana’s secrets.”

“So like a scientist, but magic and not science.”

Blanche considered this. “It’s difficult to say. I only know your ‘science’ is a study of the natural world, and in that sense, magic is an element of the natural world. Bu no element of _your_ world, easy and freely accessed by your people.”

“Well, we can’t do magic,” said Nanako. “But Zero can do all the magic he wants in Neotopia. It definitely works there.”

“Of course it does. Mana exists in all the Universe.”

“What about the Dark Hole?”

“How do you know about the Dark Hole?”

“Oh, some stuff my bro told me.”

Blanche groaned. “Don’t ask me how the Dark Hole works. I’ve tried to study it and nothing comes of it. Its dispelling effects are legendary and I cannot replicate the particular folds of space within.”

“You lost me.”

“Forgive me,” said Blanche. “Similar to a pocket spell, the Dark Hole features several wrinkles in space that displace its contents. But for the life of me, I cannot figure it. T’was among the endeavors I’d once thought to bring to my accolade. Most sorcerers avoid the thing, especially after the war, and so it’s never been fully explored.”

“You know, I think you’d like my friend Madnug,” Nanako said. “He is a scientist. He knows technology and space, and,”

Nanako’s face stretched. Her mouth formed a little ‘o.’

“Blanche, you really should talk to Madnug,” she said.

“That lummox? For what purpose?”

She began listing stuff on her fingers for each point. “So you said something about space folds… Madnug studies space… space is like, the universe, right? And you said that Mana’s everywhere in all the universe…”

Blanche stared at her. Nana felt like a 13 year old girl who had no idea what she was talking about, which she was.

“Uh-um,” she wavered. “What I mean is, what if messing up space like that tricks Mana into thinking you’re not inside the universe?”

The gundam was very still and silent for a whole three minutes. She seemed terrified with the implication. Nana wondered if she had said something wrong.

“Child,” Blanche began. “I have no idea what would be an appropriate way to show my appreciation that would not be upsetting to both of us.”

“Hold up your hand like this,” said Nanako, raising her flat palm. Blanche copied her. Then she slapped their hands together. “High five.”

\--

As for the rest of Nanako’s forgotten question, the answer was this. ‘Wizard’ was merely a term for a ‘wise one’, a luminary in magic matters. The Queen’s personal sorcerers might be known as wizards, and several scholars that might make great discoveries could be as well.

As for Warlocks, and Witches? Archaic terms. Not all pacts with Mana were supervised or blessed by the royal family. Hedge-magicians, the Abyssal Sphere, and others occupied less reputable, or even outwardly feared places in Lacroan society. Some, for nothing more than apocrypha. Others, crime and banditry. For one such as Talgeese, atrocity.

When the sun was about to come up, Nanako promised to return the next night. She lashed one end of the bedsheets to the iron shutter fittings, squeezed out the window, and dangled by her fingers to settle on the masonry lip outside. Blanche could not lean far out the window to watch her creep to the side and down, nothing between her and a long fall but empty space.

Madnug was exactly where Nanako left him, except he had moved on to the other body, the one nearly bisected by a violent struggle.

“Good morning, Nanako,” said Madnug. “Have you achieved your objective?”

Nanako climbed through the window, ignored the soft noise of Madnug manipulating a wreck’s insides, and collapsed on the soft bed on the corner.

“I will assume with 85.6% confidence that is a “no,” he said.

“I’m working on it,” Nanako said, muffled into the blankets. “Blanche has some kind of problem and even though joining up with us would solve it, she doesn’t want to.”

She rolled over and kicked off her shoes. “Sometimes I don’t know why people act the way they do.”

“You require more data on Blanche and her behavior. You were gone for four hours and twenty-two minutes, so I will assume that you did in fact make some amount of progress.”

“Well, I got her to talk to me some,” Nanako said. She sat up. There wasn’t so much privacy in the room, no real screen between her and Madnug’s work on the two tables. She’d sleep in her same clothes. “But she wouldn’t even tell me what’s wrong. She’ll go on forever about magic though. I think you two would get along.”

“Why? My attempt to console her was previously unsuccessful.”

Nanako took her hair down. “Mine too. But distract her for a second and she’s really smart. If she wasn’t so sad and afraid, you’d have a lot to talk about.”

“Afraid?”

“I dunno.”

“I see.” Madnug said. Only when he continued speaking was it clear he was referring to Nanako and not to the large piece of shrapnel he’d just extracted from the ruins of his subject’s reactor core. “You will have to research the origin of her anxiety. It may have a practical application.”

“How’s it going with you?”

“Well! For a certain definition,” said Madnug. “I have isolated all memory components from subject one. I am analyzing their contents now. As for subject two, their condition is comparatively poor. But they came much closer to executing their murder attempt. I must compare their storage.”

“Figure anything out yet?”

“Not yet. I will continue working. We’ve become a forensic scientist and a private investigator.”

Which was funny, because they were an astronaut and a school-age kid. “Night, partner. See you in six.”


	14. Operation: Blanche is Very, Very Sad

This was one of those stinky parts of adventures that Nanako had never, ever planned for. In retrospect and she couldn’t believe she’d overlooked it.

It was just like all the constant introductions, and the endless amounts of people she’d never met before and didn't know why she and Madnug were even here.

It was mysteries. It was the problem of running around not knowing anything about anything.

Mysteries were bad and nowhere near as fun as they should have been. They meant that someone else you didn’t even know probably had one-up on you in a big way. And unlike a TV show, the bad guys didn’t explain themselves for drama. Not even the good guys explained themselves.

Everyone just kept quiet all the time about all the problems that had to get solved. How did Shute do it? How did Sazabi do it? How did they do things or decide stuff when they didn’t know what was going on?

Sazabi had lots of people who worked with him. Maybe some of them had finding things out as a job, and they’d give him what they knew and he’d decide what to do. He never went out to go learn things himself.

Her brother and Captain Gundam responded to things the SDG had already found out. They didn’t have to decide what to do very often. When they learned something themselves it was usually pretty important and dumped in their lap at the last second.

The worst thought of all though: what if the SDG didn’t know what to do, either? If they’d known about the explosion, if they’d known about what could have happened to Madnug, couldn’t they have tried to stop those things? If they knew something was wrong in Lacroa, why weren't they here to help?

What would happen if she didn’t know enough to cover for them?

When Nanako woke up the next morning Madnug was motionless in the corner, compiling something pretty intense. He’d left her a text with an apology for missing her, how long he estimated it would take to analyze. He needed all of his focus to do it, so she left him alone to finish.

Her clothes came back and were definitely clean. They smelled like marjoram though. Even though she’d washed up yesterday, there were no blow-driers in Lacroa and it wasn’t as if she could use magic to fix her hair. She would just have to deal with it being wavy, her bangs that wouldn’t behave.

And yeah, she was toting something awful in the bags under her eyes. Her sleep schedule had been pulverized over the past week. Nanako fished her sunglasses out of her backpack and put them on. Now everybody would only see her being Cool™.

\--

It was too bad though that being Cool™ didn’t actually get you anything in Lacroa. It didn’t let you in to talk with the Queen without an excuse when she was preparing the rituals for the upcoming Accolade. It didn’t make Zero appear when he was guarding her at all times, which was his job.

So A-list and B-list sources for answers were out. It was d idea to make a fuss with like a zillion guards unless it was a real emergency. She didn’t want to look like she was crying wolf. The C-list was Gemini.

Nanako was down to the D-list now.

Out of all the three other squires, Griepe was the one she’d been the best-introduced to. He was overeager, excitable, handsome, and by far the most chatty. He must have considered himself a dashing rogue, or something like that.

He was a little bit like Guneagle. So Nanako approached him the same way. When he was practicing his knightly combat skills in the training yard, she was there. And she put her hands together and applauded.

Operation “Blanche is Very Very Sad”, or BiVVS, began with Griepe turning around, caught off-guard by the sudden audience. Then he swept into a grand theatrical bow, probably one he had practiced for years.

“Lady Nanako! Forgive that I did not see you approach,” he said. “It is an affront to your beauty.”

With a flourish, he did something that Nanako had seen Zero do many times: produced a facsimile rose from the nearby gardens. He offered it to her, eager to please. Nanako smiled and took it, and smelled it. But she preferred when it was her friend doing this show-and-spectacle, not a recent acquaintance.

“It’s okay. I’ll forgive you this time,” Nanako said curtly. Zero was easily flustered, but he enjoyed a willing second player in his act. Griepe was mostly just nervous. To prevent some awkward, hesitant laughter, Nanako told him, “Those are some cool tricks.”

“I thank you! Privately, I’d say that I’ve been working harder than the other squires. They’ve already taken recess.”

Nanako adjusted her sunglasses and told a white lie. “You know, I’ve only seen Zero do magic. You’re pretty good.”

“Oh, now I know you flatter. The Grandmaster is far more formidable than myself. I can only imagine how your eye has been spoiled, witnessing his abilities.”

“What do I know? I’m from Neotopia,” said Nanako. “I thought that to do magic, knights had to go through some special ceremony.”

“Oh yes, the upcoming accolade. You’re half-correct, my lady. But from our creation, knight gundams are imbued with a provisionary grace of the Spirit Tree. It’s no good to start practicing after one’s dubbed Knight!”

Wow, Nanako thought. He really was going to just say whatever to her. Usually being sort-of-tangentially-famous was a huge pain. But in Lacroa, the right people would just talk about whatever she wanted, never call her out if she was being kind of dumb, overall become total doormats for her.

Neat.

“So what are you studying for the accolade?”

“Pardon, my lady?”

Huh?

“You know. I thought you had to like do some kind of… magic project? Blanche said that she was studying the Dark Hole, you know?”

At the first mention of Blanche, Griepe’s posture changed. The facsimile-rose had vanished some time ago, but Nanako was more aware of it than before, the empty space between her fingers. Griepe rolled his optic “eyes.”

“Oh, her. It would be like her to take on a questionably studious endeavor rather than any chivalrous deeds.”

“I don’t believe in the jock/nerd dichotomy,” said Nanako.

“Well, with all respect, one should believe that Blanche has always worked only for herself,” said Griepe. “You are better off avoiding her. She is… unwholesome.”

This was the tricky part. It was very important that Nanako not let on that she remembered every nasty look the other squires had shot at Blanche. She couldn’t have Griepe button up before he said something useful. So she tamped the urge to say, “Same,” and instead said, “Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“If you don’t know, perhaps it isn’t for you to know.”

“Come on! I want to know!” Nanako begged. She fluttered her eyelashes. “Pleeaassse?”

“Oh, very well! It would be mere gossip to a foreigner,” Griepe said to her, in an exaggerated gesture of disclosure. He did not whisper though. “Blanche is Deathscythe himself.”

It sounded a lot worse than what the Abyssal Sphere had said!

“She’s not, though? Zero totally kicked Deathscythe’s butt.”

Griepe was clearly enjoying this more than his training. He leaned on his practice weapon and made a big show of explaining everything.

What he thought was everything, anyway.

“Young Nanako, you don’t know much of Knight Gundams. We have the honor of bearing an archetype that patterns us to knights of old. In the ancient past, there have been Knights that resembled me, resembled noble Altron, Leon. Master Gemini as well— born under sacred stars, animated by lightning and Mana’s divine breath.”

“So you’re saying that… there’s been another Zero before?”

“Not of the same name or exact title. But of the same form, of similar magical prowess, content of character,” Griepe corrected. “Only, quite long ago. It is singular and unnatural that any Knight is born under the same stars as one recently fallen.”

“So, Blanche…”

“The Knight of Darkness, the very same,” Griepe told her. “Returned from the dead to curse us all.”

\--

“I’m not pleased with my findings,” Madnug admitted.

He had not left the guest room, or come to find Nanako. Or even called her. He’d stayed there the whole day and waited for her to return.

“Is it bad?”

He did not give any outward indication of a yes or no.

“Madnug?”

“There is a significant discrepancy between what I could recover from at least one onboard processor clock and the unit’s maintenance clock.” Madnug said.

“So someone turned them off, did something, and turned them on again?”

Madnug looked briefly at the sheets thrown over the empty husks now laid out in the corner.

“No,” he said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nanako, would it be intrusive to request that you hold my hand?” said Madnug. “I would like to benefit from the gesture’s calming effect.”

It was bad. When she touched him, he was icy. Beads of condensation were gathering on his armor. He’d been cycling his cooling system in high-gear to handle nervous overheat. “How’s that?”

“Thank you,” he said.

Then he told her, “Their maintenance clock elapses over seven thousand days of operation. The system clock elapses two days, four hours, and fifteen seconds until deactivation.”

“But that’s impossible. They can’t have been born two days before they died. You just said they were alive for years and....”

She felt the same cold sweat beading on Madnug trickle down her guts and pool in her stomach.

“Their drives bear unmistakable signs of a full-system reformat.”

“They got wiped,” Nanako whispered.

Madnug nodded. “One black box bears only simple instructions. I did not inspect them closely. It was… disturbing. I will continue to analyze.”

Nanako held his hand tighter and resisted the nausea slithering up her throat. Those two bodies under the sheets locked in her vision. Soon she had her arms wrapped around Madnug, awkwardly over his pauldrons. It was a good thing he was so cold, because she was so hot, and sick, and angry. She needed that right now.

“I won’t let them get away with this,” she promised. “I don’t care what I have to do.”

\--

“Come on, you can totally sneak out for a night. Who has to know?”

Nanako gestured at the window sill and at the open air. Blanche remained in shadow, a faint outline in the corner of the room.

“I will not defy my punishment,” she said. “It’s well-deserved.”

“That’s baloney, and you know it,” Nanako said. BiVVS was not moving forward as smoothly as she’d have liked. “You’re not in here for any reason but that someone important said so and the Queen’s too tripped up by the stuffed-shirts to say no.”

“I find it unlikely that you would possess any insight into the Queen’s opinion of me,” said Blanche.

“She basically said that to my face,” Nanako countered. “You know, tomorrow when I tell her the bad news, I’ll bring it up in person.”

“No!”

Blanche coughed. For a robot with no lungs, it was only an emote.

“I appreciate the gesture. But please, no. Do not provoke the Queen for my sake.”

“I don’t know what it’s gonna take, Blanche,” said Nanako. “Madnug discovered that the people who attacked the Queen were reprogrammed. That means that this is a crime done by Neotopians, and gets a Neotopian investigation. And where I come from, it’s illegal to hold someone for a crime they had nothing to do with. I’m pretty sure, I think! Like, almost totally sure. I need to look it up but if it isn’t it should be.”

Blanche looked up at her out of her little shame corner, two dim optics peering out like an owl. “‘An idealistic vision,” she said. “But alas, even if I did intend to run rampant through the castle, I am confined to this cell.”

“Oh come on.” Nanako kicked her legs in a way that caused Blanche to move forward, as if she was worried the girl would tumble backwards through the open window and fall fifty feet down the tower. “Griepe said that you do a ton of magic instead of… getting cats out of trees… saving damsels in distress....”

“Any damsels that lout encountered are in more distress for knowing him.”

“Well, whatever! All I’m saying is that I’ve seen him work and his magic’s nowhere near as fancy as yours and his fighting’s nowhere near as good as yours, and that he’s sitting really pretty that someone who’d make him look bad is locked up and he’s not.”

Blanche did not respond for almost a minute. Then, Nanako could see the soft light of her faceplate’s vocal indicator as if she was muttering something too low to be heard.

“I know it’s really hard to disobey the rules,” said Nanako. “But I’m not asking you to go on the run! Just to… I don’t know. Being stuck up in here makes it more real. That if you’re in here, there’s got to be a reason, and if there’s a reason you’re a bad person.”

“Child, tell me if there is anyone on the floor directly below this one.”

“Huh?”

“T’was what you said, that you climbed out a window like a monkey and up to my cell.”

Nanako shrugged. “Was empty when I was there.”

“Then, this may work. Return to that room.”

“Okay?”

She was almost over the sill when Blanche called out behind her, “Ah, if I get… stuck… do not yell for help. I’ll manage.”

\--

Nanako had the pleasure to watch a whole Gundam fall through the floor from the ceiling. A phase-through-the-floor spell was probably much more useful when you could fly and control how you clonked down from the air. It was a lot faster than climbing down, which even for Nanako was hard. At least Lacroa’s towers had much nicer handholds and footholds than an industrial concrete wall, or an abandoned construction segment.

If the castle guards thought a Neotopian girl acting as if she was leading an invisible person by the hand was strange, they didn’t say anything. Nanako was already strange to them.

“I don’t think there’s anyone’s standing around in the gardens at night,” Nanako said. “There’s nothing here and it’s dark.”

“I’m not about to reveal my presence to anyone looking through a window.”

“Then look like something else? Madnug can see invisible stuff, but I can’t.”

Blanche let go of her hand. She’d completely vanished for a few moments, undetectable except for the quiet mumbling of what-to-do. Then Zero appeared before her, or his image. Blanche could not hide her deep indigo optics.

Nanako stared.

“Is it… wrong? Is the illusion accurate?”

“Forget it.” Nanako said. “Come on, I’ve always wanted to visit down here. The real Zero said that the flowers are the prettiest at night.”

And he was right. The two moons overhead were brighter than Neotopia’s single one. Their light was soft on the velvet whorls of roses in the immaculate bushes. Their color was muted, plunged from royal violet to the most honest breed of black. The fountain that fed them murmured.

“He won’t see me, you know.”

Nanako looked at Blanche, disoriented by the wrong voice coming from ‘Zero.’

“Your companion Madnug, he cannot ‘see’ the invisible. ‘Tis only tools he possesses that reveal a magician's oversights. I could anticipate such unusual senses. I could weave spells that would baffle even him.”

“Wow. You really own all of this, don’t you?”

“Excuse me?”

Nanako felt like she was balancing pots and pans on her head. She didn’t know what move she could make, without completely compromising BiVVS. “You really know your stuff. I don’t know why you think you don’t deserve to be a Knight.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Oh, cut it out. Don’t go back to the ‘I’m being crappy because I don’t want people to look at my problems’ thing. I could get that at home from Sazabi.”

That was rude in Neotopia, and it was definitely rude in Lacroa. “Why did they let him live?” Blanche asked with scorn. “I’ve heard he was a demon of the Dark Axis. Responsible for… unspeakable crimes.”

Nanako tamped her voice back down in her throat.

“Why would they permit one such as him to live among them? The enforged avatar of all the harm unto them, that could be destroyed forever and forgotten? How could anyone bear to look at him?”

“You’re right. Sazabi definitely did do really bad things. And I could list reasons why and why not he should be forgiven. It’s complicated,” Nanako said. “But I don’t think this is about Sazabi, what you’re talking about.”

“How… well do you know that fiend?”

“Held me when I was a baby,” Nanako said.

Blanche made an involuntary noise.

“You didn’t hurt anybody, betray anybody. Or kill anybody. Sazabi can be a pain, but he’s out there doing his best to stop the bad things he did from ever happening again. You didn’t do anything but you think you have to throw yourself in the trash because you’re like Deathscythe. What about you’s like him?”

Blanche reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, suddenly tugged her behind a copse of closely- woven trees by the rose bushes. When Nanako had the presence of mind to make a noise, a cold metal hand was already over her mouth. “Hush!”

The girl peeked through the brush. The Queen, and the real Zero had appeared behind her back, just then emerging out of the elegant arched doorway. The queen moved with tired, deliberate steps. She alighted on one of the stone benches by the fountain. Zero flew close to comfort her.

“Invisible would be good right now,” Nanako whispered, muffled. When no reply came, she looked over her shoulder. Blanche’s illusion had failed entirely. She’d pinned herself behind cover, torn three ways between hushing Nanako, peeking around, and shielding herself from the scene with its well-groomed trunk. Motor control components rattled faintly inside of her. Normally-silent venting heaved hot air.

“Blanche?”

The gundam turned her head up at the dark sky and averted her eyes.

“Blanche!”

And she pulled Nanako by her wrist through the wall closest to them. Into a servant’s mudroom lit by a magic globe. Tools for the care of the garden neatly leaned against the far corner. Blanche leaned with less delicacy, shuddering panic.

Nanako shook her head, trying to forget the sensation of her body passing through stone and mortar as if it was a stiff fog. She ducked down into Blanche’s vision. “Hey? Hey, are you okay?”

She didn’t even get waved out of the way. Blanche was staring straight through her, optical display involuntarily dilating. Beads of condensation formed on her body.

It was the clue that made all the other little things line up very neatly to Nanako. Mounds of unruly details and minor stuff leaped into the right places, dusted themselves off, and presented themselves. That feeling when you asked for help with your homework and suddenly understood what you’d been doing wrong the whole time. Or something like that. It was obvious, with annotations and little arrows that pointed to all the evidence like an easy diagram. The answer, highlighted by a nice neon sign, ‘get your answers here!’

“You like the Queen, don’t you?” Nanako said

“What are you implying?” Blanche turned suddenly, defensive. “Of course I am loyal to my Queen!”

“You like like her,” Nanako clarified.

Her faceplate had flushed almost red-hot. “Impossible!”

“Look, it’s okay. I mean, to like somebody that way.”

“‘Tis exceedingly _not_ ,’” Blanche said very quickly, “acceptable, permissible, appropriate, or ‘okay’ in any sense to harbor such delusions about Her Majesty!”

“Why not? I know tons of ladies that are together.” Nanako thought a little more. “Is it the robot thing? Gosh, Tango is _married_ to a human, and he’s an _axian_ so like…”

Blanche held up her hands, as if to shield herself from this concept. “I hardly know about the Queen’s personal life. There’s surely no way that such an attraction would be founded in anything but vanity!”

“Talk to her, then? I’m sure you have things you can talk about.”

“No!”

The joints in her metal fist creaked. Then she hid her grief in them, grinding knuckles into her own face.

“No,” she repeated. “I’m like _him_.”

\--

BiVVS had to be a failure after that. That kind of intelligence was just too devastating.

Nanako and Madnug petitioned the queen early the next morning. Nanako propped her eyes open, shook out the dust. Queen Relejimana was not in much more than her dressing-gown and robe.

Madnug told her what he had found. The Queen reacted with unveiled horror. In the spare hours before she was dressed and set about her duties to the state and to the evening’s accolade, there was no one to perform for. Zero was there, blearily.

“You must speak nothing of this until a line of contact with Neotopia can be re-opened,” the Queen asked of them. “Your state must be public in condemning these vile crimes. I have faith that the SDG, or any other facet of your government, would never use such unthinkable tactics. But there are many who would see it as a stone thrown from Neotopia regardless.”

“I’m sorry if this is rude,” Nanako said. “But aren’t you the Queen? They have to listen to you, right? In a real, actual time of emergency.”

The Queen Relejimana yawned delicately, hiding her mouth behind a dainty hand. Nanako struggled to understand that expression. Not a frown, but something that only a very royal person would have had to practice for months or years to pull off. It was the most refined apology possible without words.

“One would think,” Queen Relejimana said. “But it is in the interest of our enemy to… How would your brother put it? See me sweat.”

She smiled to herself. Nanako wondered about it, how she could do that when they were talking about something so serious. Maybe she was remembering better times.

“A lady does not sweat,” she clarified tartly. Zero looked as if he was about to shoot off into a nervous outbreak of yes-of-course-indeed-quite-true.

“Then it is our primary objective to re-establish contact with Neotopia,” Madnug suggested. “Queen Relejimana, I am willing to change priorities. Is there any way that certain components of the spacecraft Nanako and I arrived in could be safely extracted?”

“What are you planning?” Zero asked.

“I am loaded with repair and maintenance specifications for this spacecraft, including the miniature dimensional transport device and space jump driver on board,” Madnug said. “I may be able to configure the components with Lacroa’s ID terminal to open communications from our own side.”

The Queen considered this.

“What level of protection is required to retrieve these artifacts?” she asked.

“Ideally, none. But I did not inspect the extent of damage. Level-two radiation hazard containment might be necessary if the space jump driver has malfunctioned.”

Relejimana was instant in her decision. “It will be done. I will instruct my wizards to apply the correct wards against harmful energies. I cannot permit you to leave the castle at this time, however. For your safety.”

“How can I direct the operation? My input is required.”

“I will cast the remote-projection myself,” the Queen promised. “In my formal gown, if it comes down to that. You will have these items by tomorrow morning, Madnug. If you represent Neotopia’s goodwill, I will trust you with this responsibility.”

“Didn’t you send Zero to Neotopia with magic?” Nanako asked. “Couldn’t we tell Neotopia that way?”

Zero nodded. “Yes, my Queen did cast me across dimensions in the past,” he said. “But I’m afraid that no spellwork could have returned me by Mana’s grace alone. Believe me, I tried.”

“Sending is not the same as receiving, or moving one’s own self across dimensions,” Relejimana clarified. “If I was to transport an emissary to Neotopia, I could not assure they would ever return, nor could I hear a reply. I will not banish any from my world in that way again, save in the most desperate circumstance.”

“Deathscythe was able to speak to his puppets, and piece the Minov from abroad,” Zero said. He was sincerely surprised. “It’s not possible even with your power to do the same?”

Relejimana shook her head. A rolled curl fell from one of her pinned tresses. “I’m afraid not, Zero. I can only guess he affixed some form of focus to the Gundamusai when you were in close quarters. Or that his slaved rose might have extended his reach. But I have nothing Neotopia to work through. I did not think to prepare.”

Nanako watched the conversation quietly and bit her lip. She was probably going to either feel this way a lot of the time, or learn more than she ever wanted to know about difficult science-y, magick-y types of things, or both. “Hey, uh, is it OK if I talk to Zero after this? Not for a long time, I just have… some other things.”

The Queen raised her totally perfect eyebrow.

“It’s, uh, friends stuff?”

“Of course,” Queen Relejimana said. “I’ll work out the particulars with Madnug. You must be missing Zero’s company. With the upcoming accolade, and other factors, hospitality has been… poor. I apologize for that.”

Nanako nodded.

“Zero, please attend her. I will be fine for the time being.”

He looked to regret it, but he did so without arguing. Soon Nanako and Zero were out of the upstairs solar and down the hall to another series of chambers in the Queen’s residence. Zero looked over his shoulder when he told Nanako, “I hope this is important.”

“It is,” Nanako said. “I’ve got to talk to you about BiVVS.”

“Pardon, what?”

“Operation, ‘Blanche is Very Very Sad',” Nanako explained.

Zero halted, fixed in the air as if he’d run into a solid wall.

“Well, she is!” Nanako said. “Zero, it’s pretty bad. You have to help.”

So, they were going to argue in the downstairs atrium, next to two potted ferns and an immaculately-preserved classical bust. Zero would not budge further. “The… issue of that squire is beyond my help.”

“Zero! You’re the legendary hero or something! Don’t tell me that you can’t do anything!”

“Nanako, what would happen if Deathscythe’s vanquisher were to confront one who so resembles Deathscythe himself?” Zero asked.

“I don’t know? Maybe you could, like, _tell her she isn’t Deathscythe_!” Nanako insisted. “Because _you actually knew Deathscythe_!”

Zero looked out the window. The sun was beginning to climb.

“Don’t tell me that you think she’s him, too!”

Zero said nothing.

“I can’t deal with this!” Nanako said. “I don’t know _who_ he was but… she’s not _that_!”

“I was present when she was created,” Zero said sharply. “At the time, I could not ‘deal’ with it either.”

Nanako felt herself snarl. Attacking Zero wasn’t really working, but she was locked moving forward and could not turn herself aside. “How long ago was that?”

“Not long after the spirit tree was restored,” Zero said. “Around twelve years ago.”

“Oh my god! You’ve been… avoiding her _for twelve years_?!”

Zero winced as Nanako’s voice cracked harshly. She held her hands out, palms up in a clear gesture of shock and begging. She was only on the far side of thirteen herself.

“Knight Gundams do not have a childhood, Nanako. She is mature in spirit and mind—”

“That’s still her entire life though,” Nanako insisted. “Even if she’s a grown-up, that’s _all her time_ , she’s been treated like somebody else!”

“Don’t speak so rashly! If I were to treat her as Deathscythe befits, I—”

“She’s miserable, Zero!”

“Stop interrupting me!”

“ _She tried to hurt herself!_ ” Nanako yelled. “She told me she wanted to _die_!”

The syllable did not coexist with the decor. It shattered against the walls. It pierced Zero, his metal shell. Nanako felt needled-through two breaths out. Like broken glass under her tongue. Pressing her lips together hurt.

She felt herself trying to cry and lashed it back down to the bottom of her mouth. Zero didn’t know what to do with himself. In the moment Nanako looked down to get herself together, he’d sunk to the floor. There was just no hovering through that.

“You killed Deathscythe, because he deserved it,” Nanako said, from a hollow cavern throat, “Don’t… don’t kill Blanche, who doesn’t, and you know it.”


	15. The Knight of the Black Rose

“Why did you come?”

Blanche had at least lit the candles that night. That was a good sign. Maybe.

Nanako didn’t answer her for a few seconds. She sat on the bed and waited. And tried to think.

“Why _wouldn’t_ I?” she asked.

“Petulant child! Don’t turn questions back upon me,” Blanche said. “I have reason to be here. You do not.”

“Do you want me to leave?” said Nanako.

“If I wished you gone, you would not be here,” the Gundam replied. “There are at least two, as many as four places you’d ought to prefer.”

Nanako realized what was wrong. “Blanche, you’re not my last pick, you know?”

The Gundam stood in the window and contemplated this. “Your friend. Madnug, does he mean so little to you?”

“I can have more than one friend. He and I agreed, I should be smart with my time. I don’t need to breath down his neck while he’s working on something I can’t really help with. Soon we can all hang out together.”

“Then aren’t you skirting disaster? The accolade is tonight. The Grandmaster and the Queen would you as an honored guest.”

Nanako grumbled, clenched her fists in the unused sheets. “Who cares? If you’re not going, I’m not going. It’s not fair.”

Blanche seized up.

But Nanako beat her to the punch. “I should have told the Queen everything right away. I was a chicken and now who’re they going to believe? The knight who’s promoting his students? Or an invader from another dimension?”

“Lady Nanako, you have respect and influence. Your brother is revered.”

It was weird to be called a ‘lady.’ But Blanche was like Zero in that something about them made it all right. For someone so rude on top, they shared the same chivalry. Like wiping your finger across a grimy car to see the real paint underneath.

“I’m not my brother,” Nanako said. Maybe a little too coldly. “It’s not the same. But I know what it’s like to be compared to somebody else my whole life.”

She looked down at her knees.

“It stinks,” she said.

Heavy steps clanked over the stone floor. Nanako looked up to see Blanche rushing over to her. She worried for a moment if she’d been so selfish in that moment that she was going to seize her and chuck her out through the window. But she wasn’t picked up, only snatched forward. A good half of the bed she’d been sitting on was swallowed by darkness. Nanako stumbled, fell on her rump and couldn’t reconcile for a moment that the walls and ceiling were gone.

This was empty space, but not outer space. Unknown space, contained within some magic bounds.

“Show yourself!” Blanche demanded. She waved her hand in the air. But no weapon came to her grasp. She tried again, groaned.

A voice came from the dark. “You’ll have nothing from your pockets while within the bounds of this magic square.”

“It looks more like an octagon to me,” said Nanako.

“Silence!”

“I know not who you are,” Blanche said. “But you should not have been able to breach the wards on this prison.”

The voice was a distinctly cold one, but eager to converse. Or to display the depth of Blanche’s own disadvantage. It spoke again, “‘Should have’ is the weakest of phrases. I was able to, and I have done it,” it boasted. “And easily, through a gaping hole.”

Nanako swallowed. A lump traveled down her throat. If she hadn’t nagged Blanche so hard, if Blanche hadn’t broken the magic prison to get out and _mill_ around with her, then…

“‘Tis a pity you’ll not introduce yourself,” Blanche said. “Begone! I have nothing for you, whoever you are.”

“Yeah, I’m getting super sick of all these random people we don’t know barging in,” Nanako yelled up into the shadows. “Could all you bad guys wear name tags and save us some time?”

“Why?” asked the voice. “The Gundam is a _spare_. There is nothing to do this late in the matter but to dispose of it.”

Blanche shifted uneasily. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that you’re of no use to anyone,” said the voice. “Except, perhaps as food.”

Gundanium wasn’t very edible, Nanako thought, but she may have been. Well, it would depend what kind of messed up things existed in Lacroa that could _eat_ a robot. But it was a question answered sooner than anyone would like, as something came through the ‘floor’ of the magic square.

It was long neck until Nanako realized that was all body, knotted around itself. Two snapping heads lifted out of its coils, set with fangs longer than her forearm. It was segmented and mecha-like, but somehow unrestricted by engineering.

“Dumb question, what’s the monster?” Nanako whispered.

“‘I have read a description of this spirit,” Blanche answered back. “Aesculapius, I believe.”

Its eyes lit, hungry and green as poison.

“One of the Jormungandr’s retainers. A healing, preserving spirit!” She balled her hands into tight fists.

“It’s incredible what any creature will do for what it needs,” said the voice. “For what it craves most desperately, beyond all other obligations.”

-

The extraction was complete. Madnug stood alone in the upper observatory of Lacroa Castle and watched the magic spell the Queen had set break down. It was a metric he had no ability to quantify, unique to Lacroa and those born there. Unless, he considered, he lacked the correct tools to measure it.

But it did seem to follow rules, and did seem to have its own limits and efficiencies. It was simplest for the Queen to perform this ‘far projection’ spell from a high vantage. Which suggested that the more matter in the way of the target, the less clear the reception. Could it be presumed then, that this was a signal? A magical teleconference? How was the data transmitted, through some sort of wave? On what spectrum of energy? Or was this all assumption based on his own knowledge, and the mechanism was different?

Still, the task was complete. The miniature dimensional transport device was nonfunctional, but not beyond repair. Far more hazardous a component, the jump driver had thankfully sustained little damage, and now was contained within a summoned I-field. That at least was simple to analyze, though not clear on how it was maintained. The very same effect could be achieved with an applied particle reactor. Perhaps magic hid the mechanics, and then seemed to pluck the result from nothing.

Either way, he had directed the operation himself, Now having vanished from that remote site, he was left alone to await his materials.

The sunset on Solardiorama did not look exactly like Neotopia’s. Their star was larger than Neos, but farther. Even if the two planets shared the same blue horizon and approximate atmospheric content, it was a subtle difference. Like the .1 m/s² deficit in gravity here.

The towering cliffs and steppes beyond the fertile basin cast dramatic, deepening shadows. A shade fell over Lacroa castle before the sun was gone. The sky remained in fire, and that reflection shone all over the landscape.

Through the nearest wide window, Madnug could see the complete castle grounds. The gracefully arched towers and ramparts that trellised the spirit tree. The gardens below and the commons. The castle town and the mirror lake below. It was a pool of warm red.

Two tiny figures caught in his predictive algorithm. Out of dozens he could see, they did not fit his expected pattern. There was an event this evening, no one should have been in the most remote and walled palace garden, that only this window might peer into. And the view was so distant that it was beyond the hope of any naked eye.

Madnug’s optical suite was more advanced than the telescopes surrounding him. He focused his vision. Magnified. Identified one figure as the knight Gemini, who _certainly_ should have been at the gathering. The other as one of the squires, Leon? No, the subject had somehow changed in appearance. Madnug magnified again, unsure if he could verify. He searched for a match in his memory, the most likely subjects first. Then, when those turned up nothing, he tried every other robot model he had seen in Lacroa thus far.

It was a Taurus. That was the match— he had almost no data beyond the brief encounter outside of the Abyssal caves days ago. How unexpected.

At this range and poor light quality, the image was fuzzy. The distance was too great even for a parabolic listening sample, and there was no smooth surface to facilitate a laser microphone approach. But Madnug saw Gemini give _something_ to the Taurus. In an instant that robot’s image was replaced by another: the squire Leon’s.

He hadn’t been mistaken. It hadn’t been a misidentification, but some sort of cloaking technology. Leon had _become_ a Taurus, and then regained his original appearance.

Or, a more alarming hypothesis…

Madnug dialed Nanako’s phone immediately. There was no response, which was unusual considering he had a direct line to it and his own personal network was quite robust. It was intended to serve him in space with nothing around at all.

He tried again. And again. The Queen had been very apologetic to him that no robots from Neotopia were permitted at the accolade, for the sake of her court’s peace-of-mind. And, as it was in less than an hour and the event had already started, the Queen and any in her confidence were inaccessible to him.

Nanako had to pick up.

\--

The thing, the Aesculapius, had Blanche. Its coils squeezed, and fending off the two snapping heads was all the Gundam could do. She resisted, but could perform no magic, summon no weapon, within the bounds of the magic square.

So, when wizards fought, they tried to move one another to places they had no control, or made sure the other could not use their powers. Smart.

But super bad, in this case!

In the middle of her cries of effort, Blanche screamed out loud. One of the heads was gnawing at the slim juncture between her pauldron and major chassis. It was only slowed down by the sharp flanges on her armor. Nanako felt a haze settle over her pulsing throat. She saw a tall candle holder. Whatever rules governed the objects the magic square had brought to this place, it didn’t matter. She ripped the still-flaming wax off the spike end.

“Put her down!”

She didn’t know what she was doing. She’d lifted the wrought iron in two hands and thrust it like a spear into the branch of the serpent’s necks. She drove it in with all her might and couldn’t hear the thing screech at her for the blood rushing in her ears.

But she was only human, to the spirit no stronger than a wasp. Nanako flew backwards, vaguely aware of a crunch of wood. That was the bed, right? Where was she?

Her brains quit spinning around. Blanche had wrestled free and was holding back a snapping maw with both hands, shielding Nanako with her metal body.

“I’ve not yet sworn my oath,” she declared, “but I will not allow any lady fair—”

She backhanded the other serpent’s head, that had finished digging the iron out of itself.

“— or dark!—”

Nanako saw her push five-inch fangs aside.

“— or of any kind whatsoever!—”

Blanche cast herself at the beast with an unexpected ferocity.

“— come to harm!”

It was hard to imagine Zero throwing _all-in_ this way unarmed. Nanako vaguely remembered some story about cakes, or castles, but there was no time to space out. Blanche had some personal anguish that made her ferocious. Still, it was a hopeless fight without magic or any kind of real weapon. Even as Blanche picked up the discarded candle stand it was little help but to hammer away at the thing, smash it into the by-now trashed bookshelves or other room features the magic square had scooped up with them.

An all-neck baddie would be easy to behead. If only Blanche could take something out of her pockets!

Nanako’s bruise-soreness abated enough for her to pat her overalls down. She couldn’t just _watch_! She _had_ to do something. There _had_ to be a way… if not, then…!

There was a lump in her front pocket. It was her silver write-on-anything marker. She’d forgotten it and it had gone through the wash.

She pinched her eyes shut. She had to remember _anything_ useful. Anything she’d heard that was like this before, otherwise what was the _point_ of being the sister of someone who’d had so many adventures? Replace her with anybody without a clue!

Magic square. Magic square…

“Blanche, I think my brother was in a magic square once!” She yelled. “It broke and almost dumped him in space!”

Blanche looked back, startled. The creature walloped her over the helm with one of its writhing tails.

“Broken by magical force? Yes, but I…”

“Catch!”

Nanako tossed the marker. Blanche almost fumbled with it. “What?!”

“It’s supposed to be able to draw on anything!”

“What?!”

“That’s all I got!” Nanako yelled back. Then she picked up one of the many books making a mess on the floor and tossed it at the creature. “Hey! Two snakes! Eyes on me!”

The Aesculapius turned its four piercing eyes to leer at her.

“See, you responded to ‘two snakes,’ Nanako told it while throwing another book. “That’s your name now!”

It wasn’t amused.

“Nanako, it’s not working!” Blanche said. “Your pen will not write!”

“You have to take the cap off!” Nanako yelped, and dove behind the remains of the bed. A snapping, hissing mouth burst through the frame and struggled with the stuffed-wool mattress.

“Oh! Oh, I see!”

The darkness surrounding them faltered. It flickered, and so did the spirit. And like a pile of bricks collapsing, the magical space tumbled apart until Blanche was hands-and-knees furiously scribbling on the floor, and Nanako was picking the down out of her hair from a shredded pillow.

“For real…?” Nanako whimpered. “That  _worked_? I didn't have anything else...”

Blanche looked up. Then embarrassedly fit the cap on the wide silver marker, missing once with her wide metal hands. “I… was not entirely sure it would work,” she admitted. She had a few dents in her armor, but seemed unbothered. “But, ‘tis _true_ that a magic glyph is _constructed_ with intent. So then it might be _disturbed_ with intent.”

She shook her head and rushed forward to help Nanako up.

“Did it hurt you?” she asked with dread.

“Nah,” Nanako said. She rubbed her sore side. “I’ve fallen worse before.”

Blanche sighed in relief. “Well, thank Mana for whatever they make you out of in Neotopia.”

“It’s really gone?”

“For the moment, I think,” said Blanche. “The magic square brought it, ‘twas bound to the confines. All I’ve done is disrupted runes that place the magic square here in this room.”

And this made sense, sort of.

“But best not to linger,” Blanche finished. “The mage, whoever he was, may try to repair the glyph.”

The first five notes of her ringtone, a chip _Ride of the Valkyries_ got out before Nanako had the phone up and saw she’d missed 65 calls and 28 texts from Madnug in the last five minutes. “Oh, boy.”

\--

Between rapid texts and then a speaker call with Madnug, the picture didn’t look good. He sent Nanako the video he’d gotten of the phenomenon in the gardens. Blanche wouldn’t believe it until she saw the impostor in that footage. Then her eyes went cold, as if too many things had fallen into place for her to address at once.

Court was about to begin.

“Nanako, if the Queen is in danger, we must be swift and subtle,” Blanche told her. Surprisingly, when she was brusque about everything else. “The enemy has already struck once. They will have had time to correct for their mistakes.”

“The squires, and Zero,” Nanako agreed. She could hear the muffled mingle in the grand hall, the conversation of the nobles and a light music.”You think they’re all fakes?”

Blanche folded a note in a crisp envelope and with the convenience of magic sealed it in dark blue wax. “I doubt the Grandmaster is. He is too close to the Queen. ‘Tis certain she would pierce any illusion,” she said. “But my peers under Sir Gemini? They have had all the time in the world alone with him.”

She handed this envelope to Nanako. It had a certain, strange weight.

“Girl, you are as irrepressible as a weasel,” Blanche said, “but, I beg you. You must follow my instructions exactly.”

“Okay,” Nanako said.

“You must give that to the Queen. Say it is a private correspondence. She will take leave of the event to open it.”

“What’s it say?”

“That is unimportant,” said Blanche. “But she _must_ , I repeat, she _must_ read this in private. She cannot look upon the contents in broad view. I recommend you lead her to the garderobe to the side of this room. After that, she must not leave that room until the danger has passed. But she will be wise enough to understand on her own.”

“What should I do?”

“I would prefer if you, too, were not in undue peril,” Blanche said. “But you’ll do what you will. Little seems to impede your comings or goings.”

“That’s fair,” admitted Nanako. “So, what, I should just go and give this to…?”

“You must not draw suspicion or cause alarm. Hm… this will fit you in.”

Nanako clasped her hands together. Okay, she felt bad about flip-flopping on Zero, but she _had_ wanted to go to the celebration, and _would_ have gone if she hadn’t felt so bad for Blanche. And she’d get to see it! A real Lacroa fancy party, with a fancy dress, and—

Blanche magicked her the coiffed garb of a servant.

“Aw.”

\--

Poor Zero. The Queen Relejimana could only watch as the Marquis Treize and no fewer than three chambermen held her Knight Grandmaster captive. The Accolade was technically to elevate the Squires, but Zero in his own way was receiving accolade himself. There was just no correcting the Marquis; his regard was not directed at the one who’d done the most hard labor but instead the one who might bestow him the most favor, or was the most advantageous to be-seen with.

Worse, Zero had been happy to take a little praise. But he’d stuck his foot in it and now glanced over at the Queen. _‘Rescue me!’_

Relejimana smiled inwardly and turned back to her own company. He was her brave champion, and should have been expected to save his very own self.

“Yes, I have seen the squire that bravely defended my life rewarded,” Queen Rele said. “Though I wish the affair had not been so _total_.”

The noble lady, the Comtesse of Catalonia did not withhold her respect. Her diplomatic ladies were stone-faced as ever. “I understand it was a trying time, your Majesty. Is there not some comfort to be had, however?”

“In their deaths?” said Relejimana.

“Surely, they could not be allowed to remain, should they have threatened your life.”

Relejimana frowned.

“I apologize if I have offended,” the Comtesse soothed. She had that tiny rim around the pit of her eyes, bright white against dark coal-pencil. She did not travel with three aides for the subtlety of her tongue.

A pagegirl approached somewhat too-boldly, then stared at her shoes. She held out a delicate envelope. “I, um, excuse me,” she stammered. Then she mumbled something under her breath. With her head down, Relejimana could not see her face. “An urgent private message for you, Queen Rele. I was told to bring it right away.”

But Relejimana knew her voice. Now, she had heard from her dear friend Shute that young Nanako did play pranks. But this did not seem at all whimsical. Zero had not told her everything, but Nanako had been upset by whatever they had conversed about, and had decided to abstain from the Accolade in protest. Shute had _also_ been adamant that his sister was quite an uncompromising young woman.

And Shute would not lie to another member of the Gundam Force, and not to royalty. Or most importantly, to a friend.

So, she took the envelope and assumed this was an urgent message indeed. “Excuse me. I must see to this matter.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

She peeked over her shoulder. Zero was still far too preoccupied to escort her. She approached Nanako and offered her hand. “Well, then?”

“I, um, yeah! Right this way…”

Well, she was not any better at etiquette than her brother, but her heart was in the right place. Even so, she decided on a spell or two to use in case anything was amiss. Not from the girl, but perhaps an unforeseen emergency.

She scolded herself for being even a little excited. It was a terrible shame what had been happening lately, but she hadn't had so much controversy in at least five years. Being Queen did not leave much time left for Gundam Force adventures. An attempt on her life was serious, of course! But the political consequences were much more dire and worrisome to her than the prospect of danger.

Nanako was sure to lead her to a secluded garderobe. She checked inside to be sure no one else was within. Then entered, and firmly shut the door behind.

“So? What’s all this about?”

Nanako had that look of somebody trying quite hard to keep cool under pressure. The girl had a curious habit of avoiding her direct gaze. “You have to read the letter,” she said.

“I’ll presume it explains,” Relejimana said. “Very well. I trust you have your reasons for brevity.”

It was a fresh envelope, not delivered from afar but likely penned only an hour ago at most. The wax was still fresh, and had not yet been scuffed in any way. There was no seal pressed into it. Inside, a thin scripted note, folded crisply.

-

_Queen Relejimana Miya du Lacroa,_

_First, I must apologize for the untoward interruption. I understand that your time is precious, and I do not wish to waste a moment of it. I will attempt to be brief, but I too must be honest, and complete. I fear this is my only, and final opportunity to be so._

_I dread to write these words to you, to confess my feelings for your Majesty, far above my station. For I know you have been coveted by another before me, one foul and wicked beyond tolerance. His shadow pursues me, and in my mind I become him. So repulsive, and so doubtlessly vile to you._

_And yet, I blame you not. For in the most futile of audacity, I admire you. And it is arrogance to say so. For what do I know of you? Only of shallow awe of your beauty. Of your rare fortitude, steadfast in face of betrayal, unimaginable hardship. And the temperance of ten thousand wonders you surely have witnessed, in lands beyond my comprehension._

_My heart aches, that your splendor is so imperiled._

_Tonight, your foes will strike. Of this I am certain. They will have anticipated the presence of the Grandmaster Zero, and will without doubt have moved to check his skill as your defender._

_I know to my core that you are more than capable of confounding any enemy. Yet, that same core cannot stand them to approach you. Perhaps, in another life, I would have sworn today before the court to keep you safe. To serve you with my whole self, to my last function._

_I swear it to you now, ink for blood. All I do is for you._

_Mana, guide me._

~~_Your secret admirer_ ~~

~~_Your faithful servant_ ~~

_Blanche_

-

In the envelope, there was also a small white card of paper. Queen Relejimana turned it over. On the reverse side was a neatly scribed magic glyph.

“Okay…”

She didn’t have to look down upon the young girl in the room with her. Nanako was staring at her in confusion. Relejimana’s hands were not her own, or the image of them. Tightly woven into illusion, around the magic of that enchanted paper, she’d taken on the appearance of someone made of metal.

“So there’s… some things, that I should fill you in on,” Nanako said, with a million-arrows frown.

\--

Zero the Winged Knight hovered slightly higher to see over the Marquis shoulder. Queen Relejimana had returned, thank goodness. The static anxiety that had settled under his breastplate abated somewhat. He’d successfully kept track of her from dawn until dusk and even then only a room-over while she slept, and his task was not to be foiled now.

She’d freshened up a bit, for how little she needed it. But the Accolade was imminent, Zero supposed, and any imperfection would be a sign of weakness and disconcerting to the court.

Lacroa had been fortunate if dreadfully confused. Hundreds who’d survived as stone woke to find their war over, and all the royal knights but one slain. And yet in over a decade, no disturbance of sufficient magnitude had come to pass, that might have made the people nervous. For while Lacroa had himself, later Gemini, and quite a few human guard, the kingdom had been utterly undefended during,

the hiatus.

The concept sat like a dead thing in the forest of his mind, attracting the usual crows.

No, things were different now. The squires were as ready as they ever might be. Now with three more knights, the kingdom would remain secure. Four knights, even. Eventually.

Griepe, Leon, and Altron gathered on the other side of the hall. The time for unserious conversation was done, and soon they would take their places in chivalry.

When he looked at them, Zero could not help but wonder where Rock, Nataku, and Battle were now. As if he didn’t know.

Queen Relejimana nodded to one of her wise men, who signaled the musicians to stop and the clerics to begin the benediction in the corners of the room. Finally, the Marquis stepped away enough for him to take his place aside the court as attending nobles moved to their own assignment.

The herald unrolled his commencement.

“On the 97th day of our kingdom's 2009th year, before Mana who presides over all the Universe, court is now in session.”

A clear silver bell was rung on the upper gallery above him.

“At this time, the court invokes the vow of solemnity. Silence, please, for the presentation of Accolade. Those who hold seats may be seated.”

Zero heard the bell a second time, and the court hushed. He stood in full decorum and scanned the crowd. There was a juxtaposition of normality and alien quality these days. Time had passed to make this normal. Nothing was amiss. But the very fact that was true mystified. How could it be true? That there was a new normal? One with a Gemini that looked so dour, so alone. One with young knights that certainly would never be his compatriots, long-gone? One where he was the Knight-Grandmaster, as if the charge of being the Savior of Lacroa was merely precedent for a new, mundane purpose.

He missed Bakunetsumaru. He wanted nothing more than to soar across the sea until he reached Ark’s jagged shore.

“Declared now will be the Squires called to service of the Royal Family of Lacroa. Hear of and understand their deeds, their legitimacy. ”

The herald rolled their commencement down, squinted at the text.

“Griepe, distinguished in rite of vigilance and combat, recipient of twenty-five writs of service from five villages.”

A boastful youth, that one. Eager to fly. Zero curiously wondered if he knew him, for that was all his mind could conjure about the boy.

“Leon, distinguished in rite of vigilance and combat, recipient of eighteen writs of service from three villages.”

Cold, or stoic. This one too, Zero knew little about. Dread fingers were grasping up around his armor, that he’d made some sort of error.

“Altron, distinguished in rite of courtesy, recipient of eight political favors from eight houses of peerage.”

How had the years flown by, and he’d not so much as conversed briefly with these few? Had he been so distracted? So negligent of them? He’d thanked Mana for Gemini and his consent to take over these tasks, but…

Zero lamented a flaw in his heart, that could have been frozen in time. And, with shame, he felt the empty expanse of air where a fourth name might have been, absent from here. Nana’s words were as true as her brother’s often were, and bit like beamfire to the frame.

Where was that last squire? How far away was she and how resentful was she of her rejection? One that certainly, on some level, was his fault and had gone unaddressed. What a fool he was! As if there was not one before that had wallowed in darkness when spurned! Or another who’d rotted away in silence and so festered, depraved. Mana, if Squire Blanche had taken any shape but _that_ one!

“Squires, you may approach, and kneel before your Queen to receive her blessing.”

They drew near, abreast. And when they reached the slight dais where the queen stood watching, they paused. But not one among them took a knee. For an instant, normality maintained itself. Like a film upon the rim of a glass. Then, all three squires lunged forward.

Zero had never before felt the moments pass so slowly. He meant to reach out and snatch them from their flight, only to find his body far too slow. Three conjured weapons converged upon the Queen and he, her loyal defender could do _nothing_. It almost did not matter that someone had seized him by the arms in that time, for even to throw them off would be too late. He could not even utter a plea to the Goddess.

He was _helpless_.

It was in that instant that his Queen Relejimana plucked a wicked scythe from the air and with one catastrophic stroke cut Griepe, Leon, and Altron asunder.

Reality faltered. The bodies of those squires separated torso-from-leg cleanly. An illusion failed, it was Deed, it was _HIM, HE HAD KILLED THEM ALL, HE MUST HAVE DONE IT_

_THIS VERY SAME WAY_

Zero collapsed to his hands. He did not know where he was. Or when this was. When he looked up, the court was a grave. The reaping was done, a heap of broken parts on the floor.

But in this vision of the past, there were imperfections. Deed was not Deed. These bodies were not those of his fallen compatriots, murdered before their valiance could be realized. They shuddered and collapsed in on themselves, and their wrecks were wrecks of different mecha. Then, nothing more than shards of clay, painted faces bisected. The only way to make three dice roll twenty-one.

“There he is!”

Nanako’s solitary voice pierced the room. She pushed through the shocked crowd, pointing an accusatory finger.

“Master Gemini! You’re so busted!”

She was leading _the_ Queen by her other hand. Gemini, who’d remained still, could have proved his innocence. He could have stayed right where he was and given no reason to believe he was guilty of _anything_.

He turned and flew out of that room as fast as Mana would permit.

\--

“There he is!” Nanako yelled, trying to shove her way through enough for the Queen, who until a moment ago hadn’t looked like the Queen but like Blanche. Blanche had in return looked like the Queen.

She’d swapped their appearances and become the Queen’s own double. Now the crowd was beginning to gasp and cry out in confusion, at who was the real queen, and what was going on and…. Ugh!

“Master Gemini!” she cried out at the top of her lungs, hoping to rise above the panic. “You’re so busted!”

And just as the Queen had predicted, he ran like a criminal. Nanako let go of her, shoved the now-inconsolable herald over and ran after him.

The doorguards meant to shut the way, but the Grandmaster blew past them. Nanako made it by only seconds to spare before the great hall was sealed. She looked right and left down the hall, then sprinted after Gemini’s wake of panic. He’d caught a curtain and hauled it down rather than slow to free himself. The waxed white tile floors were slick under her sneakers and she skidded around the corners.

She knocked over a poor maid who was carrying fresh linens. “Sorry! Can’t polite!” she yelped, because she had no breath for an apology. Nanako soon realized she had no hope to outrun magic wings. She didn’t slow down, though. She had to try… she had to think…

If he got outside where he could fly away, there’d be no catching him. But he’d never fit through most of the small castle windows, so he’d have to break through one of the big ones on the lowest level, way below. No go, too far. Where was the nearest balcony? Right here!

All closed! She tugged at the doorknob vainly, but knew that if she had trouble, Gemini would too.

She kicked out a glass window and pulled herself through, careful not to cut herself. She was on the roof of one of the castle’s lattice of towers. Brushing broken shards off herself, she was off running again in an instant, scrambling over the blue slate shingles. She caught a support column and slid nearly fifty feet in the dark to a lower floor. Her knees ached while she looked around for signs of Gemini. At least the moons were bright.

He was being hassled by human guards only a level below. Nanako hopped the railing and gulped huge breaths, running straight across the decorative stonework and leaping into thin air. She stuck the landing onto one of the massive, twining roots of the spirit tree and ran down its shallow incline. The bark crackled under her momentum.

She reached the dazed guards just as Gemini broke free and they watched her run past as if she was completely insane.

Nanako murkily wondered why she was gaining. The gundam was slowing down as he reached the gardens. Why wasn’t he flying straight up to where nobody could catch him? Weird. But she was within a step now, she put it out of her mind and leaped at the knight Gundam with her final gasp.

Gemini’s gauntlet lashed against her face. Something crunched. Nanako’s vision browned and then spiraled white. She was flying backward from the force, too ragged to scream. A hot liquid glazed her skin.

No! No!

It didn’t sound like the voice of her own head, the noise of her own language. But it caught her and she was propelled forward, backward, with terrified and apologetic care. Her nose reset itself. Her jaw’s pain was undone. Nanako was running at Gemini, just like only a moment before.

Was it the moment before?

She did not leap forward but reached out. So close!

Bang!

A single round pierced Lacroa. The tangent cleanly entered the back of Gemini’s helm, exited an optic lens. A beam shot clean through the neural core and processing boards, or whatever a Knight Gundam had instead. Nanako staggered to a stop, had to follow the angle up.

Madnug perched atop the tower wall, exactly where he said he’d be. His distant form against one low moon pulled up his configured rifle’s muzzle, reset the charge with steady surgeon’s hands.

“Mana above! He’s still alive!”

That was the shriek of one of the castle staff, who Nanako had barely noticed in the commotion but had been seeing to their duties lighting the lamps in the dark garden nearby. Nanako almost gave herself whiplash turning around. Her field of vision spun past Zero quickly on the scene. Gemini was not flying, but now walking forward. Each step was deliberate, not a desperate spasm. He did not seem impeded at all by a fist-sized hole in his head. The structure inside was black. No oil or coolant leaked at all.

He reached the foot of a white stone monument and took a knee. Hands held up, he implored it.

“Release me! I have nothing more to give!”

Nanako gasped in scathing air, hoping to say something, _do something_. But short of ancient runes Lacroa and Neotopia wrote with similar script, and Nanako could clearly read that this thing that Gemini begged to was a grave. One with G-E-M-I-N-I-I carved into its neat memorial.

“For pity’s sake, let me sleep!” Gemini wailed. “Give me the freedom of death!”

And, before anyone could do much of anything at all, that granite headstone spoke.

“In life, your absolute service was to a King. You were kindled upon their will, and snuffed out in their defense. You have never been free,” it said, in a voice Nanako had heard earlier that evening. “Little for you has changed.”

A heavy hand held Nanako back. It was hard seeing Zero like this. He went out of his way all the time to seem so cool and refined. Plain even by moonslight, his eyes were haunted when held his sword between her and Gemini. He could have made a demand at that time. Or decried his elder’s wickedness.

But he did not. He was transfixed by the voice.

“I am your King, now,” it sneered. And with magics that made the gathering night dull in comparison, two ravenous heads burst through the memorial’s face. Aesculapian serpents seized the gundam in their swift maws and pulled it through their glyphic portal. When the sigil faded, nothing remained of Gemini at all.

\--

“Declared now will be the—”

Relejimana held forth her satin glove. “That will not be necessary. The squire may approach at this time.”

The herald looked like someone had taken a good old stomp on his curly-shoed foot. But he obeyed his Queen, and stood quiet for her decree. Pointed whispers canvassed up and down the aisles while Blanche took those difficult steps to the front of the court. The attendance had seen what they’d seen, and thought what they thought. Nanako tweaked the long tail of a hat close-by her. The owner had muttered something about pardons or executions.

Blanche knelt before the Queen and bowed her head in total deference.

“Squire Blanche. Were my herald to read of your petty merits, the list might be brief.”

The gundam drew her helm even further down, wincing.

“But I do not believe it would well-describe how distinguished you are in my eyes, before this court.”

The murmurs grew. “Quiet!” demanded the far-right of the Queen’s wise men. “Chaos aside, court is still in session! The Queen is speaking!”

“Thank you, Coa.” Relejimana paused. “You humble us today, squire Blanche. None were in any position to fall so swiftly upon so treacherous a foe. Yet, despite all possible odds, it was by your courage and subtlety that ill-fortune was reversed. And so darkness repelled, and my own life saved.”

Nanako saw what Rele was doing. Sort of. The truth had a few more details in it. But a Queen was so important that her words could become real, and so she was using this power to undo what the court had been confused by, and would probably hate to understand. Leading like a Queen couldn't be as easy as ‘this person is a hero and not under arrest because I say so.’

“All this, despite incarceration and distrust. Errors in my own foresight— some deep-set. And, I am not afraid to admit, neglect. There is no flaw, or fault but my own that has paid you such disrespect. Mana has given us her stern warning. There is danger in trusting the easiest sight before our eyes, over our full reasoning.”

The court nodded uncomprehendingly and ate the humble pie right up because if their queen did, they would all be foolish not to take a slice, too. She gestured to the second of her wise men, who carried her items of office. She took the royal scepter of Lacroa, a mystic rod of gold, in her delicate grasp and laid it cross Blanche’s bowed shoulders.

“Before your Queen, before Lacroa, and before the Spirit Tree and Mana herself, I will ask of you this oath. ”

“I will answer,” Blanche said, obviously doing everything in her power to reassure her voice.

“Then, you may recite your vows as you have studied.”

Blanche paused to gather herself. And then she recited:

“I swear to serve Mana by my word and action. I swear loyalty to my liege and the virtues befitting my service. I swear to live in valor, to defend the weak, to give succor to the downtrodden, to fight for the welfare of all. I denounce evil in all its incarnations, eschew wickedness and treachery. As I never turn my back upon my foes in battle, I must never turn my back upon the meek in need. For I serve the craft of Peace, not of War. This chivalry I embody to my very end.”

The Queen smiled upon this.

“O Mana! I bestow the greatest honor within my power to grant. Your deeds honor one who once wore my shape, defied the greatest of evil to demonstrate Lacroa’s true soul. I name thee Blanche, Knight of the Black Rose.”

A cape of midnight blue manifested from Blanche’s shoulders where Relejimana laid her royal sceptre. Just like Zero’s, the material was pristine and indiscernible. It moved slightly in a mysterious breeze that could only be felt by a magical being.

“That’s it?” Nanako whispered to Zero, who was right next to her. “You guys spent half a week or something doing magic for this stuff. Not even a light show?”

“There is more to it than what you see. The ritual to elevate a Knight Gundam takes many hours and much toil. We can hardly ask the court to sit still for so long,” Zero clarified.

Madnug nodded. “I see. It was already running, and waiting for a command to complete.”

“You could see it that way. But hush!”

Relejimana pulled her sceptre of office away, and commanded, “Rise, Knight of Lacroa. You may look upon me.”

Blanche pulled herself up from one knee, and with curious wonder continued to climb until she was floating a hand’s breadth off the floor. She could not do as the queen asked for a moment, as she stared at her own hands in wonder. Had her perception somehow changed?

But when she met the Queen’s gaze she looked for precious moments. With fear, and awe, and thanks. Nanako couldn’t imagine anyone looking more like they’d been given some incredible treasure. But it was not the gift of magic that Blanche was so shocked by, but the privilege of Rele’s smile.

When she finally looked out to the court, she had never looked so happy. The court applauded. Nanako didn’t care if Zero would shush her. She cheered.


	16. I Joined The SDG?! My First Debrief

The joy and celebration did not last long.

“If the squires were fakes, where are the real ones?”

Early the next morning, Relejimana led Nanako up through a series of tightly curled stairs.

“It’s a mystery to me. The magic used to mimic them, though, it’s thorough. Zero and I should have taken a more active role with the squires before the accolade. Long before.”

Nanako liked this Relejimana much better than the one who had to speak and act in a weird secret code to prevent some kind of fancy dress panic. She seemed a lot more like her brother’s friend she remembered from a long time ago. The one who went on lots of adventures, who had the smile of a famous actress but laughed at Mom’s jokes.

Being Queen must have been hard on her.

“It’s okay,” Nanako said. “Somebody set you up!”

“It’s not so ‘okay,’” Rele said with plain regret. “You may be right that this targeted a weakness. But first, that weakness has persisted for over a decade. A lapse of judgement is forgivable. Ten years a lapse is a failure.”

“But you weren’t queen for all of it, right?

“Yes, but…” She muttered. “Oh, I hate excuses. Everything’s such a pile-up of them!”

Nanako could understand. The stairs kept going on and on. Nanako’s legs burned but she held her own. For someone who lived a life where it was impolite to run, Relejimana had a lot of breath.

“You can tell me. I won’t judge you or anything,” Nanako said. Then she thought a second. “Um! But if it’s a state secret or something, I don’t need to know.”

“No, you ought to know, Nanako.” Relejimana sighed. “Well to begin, I travelled with the Gundam Force when I was your age. After the great battle for our world. My father still reigned as King. We thought discovering Gemini alive to be a miracle. There was the question of if Zero would stay in Lacroa to train the new Squires, you see.”

“So you two didn’t retire because of Gemini?”

“Even today, we’re still very much part of the Gundam Force,” Relejimana said with conviction. “But after my father eventually passed, I had responsibilities to my people. Zero enjoyed some adventures without me, however.”

“Yeah… I remember you stopped visiting...”

“Both of us were lucky to see our Kingdom born again. We could not ask for much more than that. The arrangement that had begun before that time also continued after. I asked the kingdom to accept a Queen known for traversing faraway lands, rather than one close and familliar. It has been a challenge to teach them what I learned. But that other matter also created a distance by which it was normal to be removed from my Squires.”

“Blanche?”

“I am ashamed to admit her appearance made me uneasy. It… was irrational.”

“Does she really look that much like Deathscythe did?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…”

“The Spirit Tree’s will for Lacroa can seem unknowable.” She paused. “But that’s only more excuses. More terrible is that our enemy knows of these mistakes, counted on them even.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that while Neotopian science was the tool, I cannot count out a domestic element of this conflict — one that has great knowledge of knight Gundams, and powerful magic. What Zero told me is troubling.”

“Huh?”

“The voice that spoke to Gemini, and apparently to you beforehand, resembles Deathscythe.”

“But he’s dead, right?” Nanako blurted out. They were getting to the top. “Right?” she asked, softer.

“I thought so. His defeat was total, and all his spells and enchantments broken upon his fall.”

“But did you find his body?”

Rele grimaced. “No,” she said. “Before his defeat, I was stone. And it was impossible to return to the site of the battle for some time afterward.”

“I don’t like that,” Nanako grimaced.

“Me neither,” agreed Queen Relejimana Miya De Lacroa.

The high perch they reached nestled in the palm of fingering branches. They arced out to form piers in the sky. Bower arches enclosed the wide circular platform on all sides and although it was open to the wind, the elements had not stained it. In the center, a strange, whirling apparatus moved serenely. Nanako recognized this as some model of dimensional transport device, though she did not see the power source. It hooked up to a much smaller version of itself, not much larger than an oil drum. That itself hooked up to an indiscernible device, an ugly-looking battery or box-like gadget. It looked complex, but in a different way from the dimensional transport devices. Less whimsical?

Madnug worked through his greeting. “Hello, Nanako. Greetings, Queen Rele,” he said. “Good morning.”

“A good morning to you, too, Madnug,” said Queen Relejimana. “Oh my, have you been working all night?”

“Affirmative. It was necessary to complete this task,” he said. “My energy reserves remain acceptable.”

“Very well,” said Queen Rele. “I thank you for your diligence. May we open the line yet?”

“Yes. I will switch on communications in 10 seconds.”

“Hey, you’re sure this is safe?” Nanako asked, eying the newly spliced wires criss-crossing the setup. “It won’t explode into a zillion pieces if there’s a problem, right?”

“Do not worry, Nanako. A malfunction of that nature is not statistically significant,” Madnug assured.

He flipped a brightly colored switch on the side of the main machine and a quiet hum radiated into the open air. Nanako could almost taste a strange ozone under her tongue, a sort of thinness that wasn’t air. Softly lit panels came up around the device, a clear Lacroan replacement for standard display, built by their magical means.

“Signal is clear,” Madnug said. Then, he sounded surprised. “They are already responding and initiating contact.”

“Put it on so we can talk?” Nanako asked.

“It is not communication data,” said Madnug. “They are sending something through to this dimension.”

Nanako blinked. “What… kind of thing?”

“Something approximately two hundred and fifty meters long.”

Queen Rele folded her hands neatly behind her back. “Open the way. Let them pass.”

There was no point watching the few switches flipped and confirmation codes on the console. The gulf of air abreast the Spirit Tree shuddered. A dark shape lingered in the rift. Then knifed through the sky’s curtain. It approached impossibly fast, yet did not travel very far at all. It was moving sideways through reality.

The Gundamusai’s shadow fell on the city below. Nanako stared at the bridge, through the forward bow window. And although at that distance she could not see with whom, she knew she had made eye contact.

“I’m in big trouble,” she whispered.

\--

Fortunately, Lacroa knew the Gundamusai as the vessel of the Gundam Force, and its appearance in the sky did not cause a panic below. Citizens that looked up would notice for only a moment a red speck lift off its surface, the muted light of extensive vernier burners as it flew over to that high vantage. And none saw Commander Sazabi alight atop Lacroa Castle to meet those who had opened the way.

His optic was like plasma.

“So,” Nanako said hesitantly. “Madnug’s safe!”

She gestured at him, but Sazabi did not seem interested. His gaze strayed only a moment as if to acknowledge the statement.

“Obviously,” he replied. “It’s almost too bad.”

“Hey! What do you mean by that?!”

“There were no consequences. You learned nothing,” the Commander snarled.

Nanako looked away and crossed her arms. It sure was cool of Sazabi to come all the way to Lacroa just to roast her.

“Commander Sazabi. Nanako has been an invaluable help to Lacroa,” said Relejimana cooly. “As has Madnug. Through them, Neotopia rose to aid us valiantly. Just as their land has done before.”

The girl looked up with wide eyes. The Queen had met Commander Sazabi with such composure. She’d been sure this would be a chewing-out at least. Lacroa didn’t have so good a relationship with Axians, for all they’d gone through. If Sazabi wanted to try diplomacy, he had a bad disadvantage.

Maybe Relejimana knew this. She was unmoved by Sazabi’s burning optic. Watching the sacred queen stare down the legendary monster was worth a storybook. And remarkably, the monster backed down. Nanako had never seen anything like it. In all the years of knowing him, how fast Sazabi could pick his battles.

“How helpful to you, Queen Relejimana,” said Sazabi. “You have made use of this disaster.”

Things had always been tense between them, but Relejimana had been part of the Gundam Force for ages. And Sazabi had cooperated with the Gundam force tons of times. Why so standoffish?

“Nanako,” Madnug confided. “I do not understand the nature of this conflict. Please clarify if possible.”

“This is just a guess. But Sazabi used to be Rele’s enemy. Not anymore but... They’re two leaders that used to be at war. And Sazabi just kind of… landed in her backyard without asking first.”

“Does that qualify as an invasion?”

“Beats me,” Nanako whispered.

“Recent events have brought us all to the precipice of disaster,” Relejimana said. “I trust your arrival will not push us closer.”

Sazabi’s snort of laughter wasn’t exactly winning. Nanako didn’t think Relejimana understood what he was trying to express. For all his attitude, he had not moved forward a step. His mounted weapons, flight thrusters, were low behind him. “I am not deployed to multiply problems,” he said, and Nanako could see the firm assurance in his optical blink. “But if it’s all the same, you’d better explain them to Haro.”

“Of course,” said the Queen. “You’re here to supervise.”

Sazabi turned his head unflinchingly. As if that was obvious.

“I’m not getting this information second-hand,” said Sazabi. “Banish me to my ship, if you like! It makes no difference to me. I’d just be on the conference, anyway.”

“You know,” Nanako said, swallowing the cold lump in her throat. “We’re all just putting it off now. We all hate it. But let’s just… let’s just bite the bullet and get it over with.”

Sazabi turned his massive head to stare through her skull. “What?”

“Explaining,” Nanako said. “We’re all going to have a meeting, like ‘what the heck is going on?’ And it’s going to be the worst. I’ve explained stuff three times already and I’m already exhausted.”

\--

It was pretty bad.

First, Chief Haro got on the line, and Nanako had to be formally introduced. She didn’t know what to think about the guy. He had a funny face, but was so serious. But he was glad to hear she was safe, and no one had been harmed in the shuttle fiasco. There was no time to discuss her situation further. He moved topics from the safety of one Gundam and one civilian to the Dimensional Transport system’s disruption.

It had been a coordinated terrorist attack. Nanako could only see a bomb going off halfway up Neotopia tower in her mind, repeatedly. Madnug stood uncomfortably still, and both were silent while Haro reported Neotopia’s status. Follow-up attacks had targeted many city districts, committed by unknown axian-like robots. The SDG had not yet found a pattern, in frequency or location.

Sazabi was furious. Nanako did not know how to comfort him. Her good friend never scared her. But listening to him, feeling the angry vibration of his engine as he remarked on how his kind had been impersonated and blamed specifically, Nanako began to shake. Madnug asked if she was cold. She said no. But she felt cold, another way inside.

In sympathy to these remarks, Relejimana offered an official vow of aid to Neotopia, and to Sazabi’s Axian contingent. She related the story of treachery we’ve now witnessed: attempts on her life, violation of Neotopian lives, and treachery connived to blame those from other worlds. She was clear on Madnug and Nanako’s part in lending aid and investigating Lacroa’s strife. And their bravery: her own simple errand transformed into a gauntlet by the negligence of a traitor former knight, uncovering the trap of the false squires, and overall prevailing against evil.

It was a nice story and made Madnug and Nanako look very good. Chief Haro and Relejimana negotiated over the case of the GM wrecks, the revelation of their reformatted state. Sazabi stood in silence and thought until midday had come and gone and the Queen suggested that this would take a great amount of time to sort out. Neotopia hadn’t been able to even re-establish contact with Ark, and neither had Lacroa, and the silence was foreboding.

When the Neotopia City Council entered the call, Sazabi ordered Madnug return with him to the Gundamusai for debriefing. Nanako said goodbye to Queen Relejimana for the time being and went back with him. He wasn’t about to mechhandle both of them, carry them bodily himself. The shuttle ride ordered back to the ship was silent pins-and-needles. Nanako looked at her fingernails the entire time.

Commander Sazabi did not forcibly shut Nanako into a room while he conferred with Madnug. He suggested that she stay put, and referenced that RAIMI was not pleased that Nanako had slipped past her hall monitor, and suggested that the ship’s AI keep as many cameras as possible on Nanako, in case she could learn how the child had pulled it off.

Nanako crossed her arms and pouted in that empty, little conference room for quite a while. It was probably some place the crew would meet off-shift or space one could reserve for administration. She was to content to sit and think about how her parents would ground her forever until she remembered that if communications were working, phone service was probably also working, at least aboard a big spaceship.

She almost didn’t want to look at her phone. But she pinched her eyes and checked her messages, anyway. Then she checked her homework and felt her stomach flip over. She slid her phone across the flat metal table, as if to get it as far away from herself as possible. But she couldn’t resist the obvious truth. She reached for it and texted her mom, ‘I’m OK’, and then her homeroom teacher, ‘Sorry for late assignments, in other dimension.’

Then like a self-scolding puppy she plugged her phone into the table outlet and started trying to catch up on what was overdue.

Halfway through trying to order which of her backlog of journal essays was the most important to write first, Sazabi appeared at her door again and demanded she come with him to the bridge. He shoved a mostly crushed granola bar into her hands first. She walked two steps behind his hall-filling presence, scooping the crumbs into her mouth and watching how the zako crew of the ship scattered like pigeons before their Commander. Not only because he was still angry. None of them wanted to form a gridlock in the hall when he tried to get by.

Madnug was already on the bridge, waiting patiently. He stood up a little straighter when Sazabi appeared, if that was possible, but his shoulders relaxed when he saw Nanako wave a little at him.

“Lacroa’s status is normal. For the time being,” Sazabi said sharply. “But don’t think this is over.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t meddle with a crisis of this nature and then escape attention.” Sazabi scoffed. “You’re seeing Haro again.”

Nanako smoothed her hair and adjusted her overalls.

Poor Chief Haro must have been talking to people all day since communications had opened up again. But he didn’t even sound hoarse or tired at all. “It’s a pleasure to speak with you directly at last, Miss Nanako. I’ve heard all about you from your brother Shute, and from the Commander.”

“Oh! Um, thanks.”

“I wanted to thank you for your support in this investigation. Your evidence has been invaluable.”

“I have more,” said Nanako. “I mean! I have more pictures I took while I was here. You can have them. I want to help.”

Chief Haro was so surprised his hat popped off. Nanako couldn’t help but giggle as he caught it and placed it neatly back on top of his round head.

“I see you don’t waste any time, Nanako. We would be eager to accept any further information on the Titans that you have.”

“Titans?”

“That is what we are calling the current threat,” Haro explained. “In the video that you submitted to the SDG, the unidentified robot referenced its human collaborators with that word. It is unlikely that is what they call themselves, or that they belong to a single interest. But I am afraid a temporary name is a necessity, for now.”

“Okay. I’ll give everything I have to Sazabi,” Nanako said.

“We appreciate it. I’m sure your adventure will make a thrilling story.”

Huh?

“Wait, that’s it? It’s over?” Nanako said. “I’m… done?”

“I see no need to expose you to further risk. We could not have responded to these threats without your help.”

“I object,” said a quiet, even voice.

The chief officer of the Super Dimensional Guard paused. He did not have to look aside at the speaker, as he was on video conference and the one who’d interjected was already on screen. “What is it, Madnug?”

“In the time that Nanako and I have cooperated, a hostile robot has come into contact with, and identified Nanako. This was not her first encounter with one of these units. It is probable that Nanako may become a target of future violence,” Madnug said. “Her involvement may be unavoidable.”

“We will take measures to ensure her safety,” Haro assured.

Madnug hesitated.

“Well, what about him?” Nanako added. “Those creeps definitely have it in for Madnug. They must have messed with his space launch, and they followed him here!”

“What do you mean?”

Nanako pulled up the picture of the alien, green robot on her phone. The quality would be bad over a videoconference, but she didn’t care. She held it close to the camera, anyway. “This guy called out Madnug specifically. Well, he used some other person’s name, but, still…”

Sazabi’s engine hung on a sudden snarl. “What!?”

“The hostile robot self-designated as ‘Beta Sigma,’” said Madnug, “referred to me by the name, ‘Gerbera,’ which is incorrect.”

Nanako watched that room go still. Even RAIMI wasn’t running a single fan.The name felt more familiar to her now than it had before, but she couldn’t place where she’d heard it. It sounded like Sazabi should have said it.

“I see,” said Chief Haro at last. “That is concerning. But it does not address the question of Nanako’s continued involvement in SDG activities.”

“I am positive that it is critical,” said Madnug. “I am less effective without Nanako.”

“Nanako is a civilian, Madnug. We cannot endanger her.”

“According to current data, Nanako is vital to the operation of my Soul Drive,” Madnug replied coolly.

Haro’s voice was flat. “Is that so?”

“More study is required. But based on an available analysis of the phenomenon,” said Madnug, “Nanako has been central to every instance.”

Nanako felt her forehead scrunch as her eyebrows shot up. “Wait, so that’s the time thing? You think it’s your Soul Drive?”

Madnug nodded decisively. “The other hypothesis I can suggest is that the feedback is in response to the phenomenon. But I would have to suggest an even more complex unknown mechanism for that to be the case. For the time being, the most concise theory will be my primary one.”

It made a weird amount of sense. Nanako had seen Madnug’s Soul Drive, so he definitely had one. And Shute said all the time that Captain’s ability to activate his Soul Drive was much stronger when he was nearby, and when it happened Captain Gundam was capable of seemingly impossible force or endurance. Sazabi’s Soul Drive had activated before, too, but it was less clear what made his work. But Madnug was a Gundam like Captain was, so…

“Haro. There is an obvious solution,” Sazabi said.

“Let’s hear it.”

“I’m sponsoring Nanako Ray as an officer candidate,” declared Sazabi. “She will report directly to me. I will oversee her training and assignments personally.”

The sides of Haro’s helm popped out again, but his hat this time stayed in place. Other than that, his composure never broke.

“It was my understanding that such a sponsorship would require significant paperwork,” Haro said evenly.

“Feh! I’ve already completed, submitted, and verified it. Your bureaucrats can fight over it themselves.”

“She is still a minor. Do you believe this is appropriate for her?”

Haro’s resistance not moved Sazabi. The mech seemed to grow, his posture changed, and his hardware fanned as if rising to the challenge. Whether he enjoyed a good argument, he seemed convinced he would win. “You’ll find parental consent in the form. I don’t see why you carry on! It’s within full bounds of your colony’s Excellence Act. You sponsored her brother yourself when he was at a younger age. And you know what he is capable of. I intend to see this prospect match, or surpass that example.”

Nanako had heard about the Excellence Act in school. It was one of those early colony initiatives that was still active on Neotopia. Exploiting child labor was against the law, but in the early days of settlement it made little sense to restrict an exceptional mind or interest. With most labor automated, many top researchers, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs followed their dreams beginning in childhood. When the population was so low, making people wait was silly. In the present, the Excellence Act protected stuff like, the famous scientist Omar Bellwood graduating university at twelve and an expert on dimensional physics at fourteen. Or the heiress of the Mass family agriculture and food resource enterprise experimenting with catering artisan cakes before thirteen.

It also was supposedly, like, four-hundred-and-fifty pages long with a ton of details and protections.

“I think we are forgetting the most important thing,” said Chief Haro. “Nanako? Is this something that you want?”

Her throat was dry. She almost wasn’t here. Instead, somewhere in her own head, trying to grab hold of the meaning of all of this. One moment, her adventure was over. The next… everything would change. Everything. She would get the same chance that her brother got. She would be just like him. And everything was so right, and even if that everything was an unknown it could not touch her. For what felt like the first time in her life, her heart was speaking.

“Yes,” she stammered. Then louder, “Yes! More than anything!”

Chief Haro must have seen her shining eyes. His voice was warm when he spoke. “Then, allow me to welcome you to the Super Dimensional Guard. Excellent work, Cadet Nanako Ray.”

The rest of the afternoon passed by so quickly. Madnug was so happy to be working with her, he offered to help her with her homework. And even if Sazabi was still mad, he had repaired his pride. Before she finally went to sleep in one of the spare crew cabins, she had a file on her phone full of CADET NANAKO RAY typed out over a hundred times.

\--

The cabin wasn’t dusty, but Nanako felt like nobody had really used it for years. Captain Gundam and her brother sometimes took the Gundamusai on official missions, but mostly Commander Sazabi handled the fleet. And he rarely staffed human crew members aboard an idle battleship. Few Axians used a bed. Only weirdos like Sazabi, or maybe Tango.

The door buzzer woke her up way too early. Or was it the right time, but off Lacroa’s schedule? Time and space still were all messed up. Nanako scrambled to put on her spare shirt and practically ran into her overalls, hopping to get her legs through. She almost opened the door, but then thought about showing up with no socks or shoes. “Gimmie five seconds,” she said through the door and tugged her sneakers on.

“Don’t rush on my account,” said a familiar voice on the other side.

Nanako pressed the door release. “Blanche! What are you doing here?”

The Knight Gundam stared at her. Nanako’s hair was a mess.

“Judging me,” Nanako mumbled and began patting herself down. She swore she’d put her comb in her pocket before changing for bed.

With a flourish of her hand, Blanche produced a silver-handled hairbrush and offered it to her young friend. “Thanks,” Nanako said. but after three strokes paused while attacking an errant tangle. “Wait a minute. You don’t have hair. Why do you have a brush?”

“In case the occasion arises where one is needed,” Blanche answered.

“Like what?”

Blanche looked away as if she’d made a mistake. “It’s difficult to say.”

Nanako let it go in trying to tame her hair. She got far enough for it to be mostly neat, but there was just no way to wrangle the bit on top that always stuck straight up unless she put it in bunches. She handed the brush back to Blanche, who banished it with a snap of her fingers to wherever she kept all her stuff.

“Much better,” she said. “As for your previous question? My Queen ordered me here. Come, much will become clear.”

Nanako shut her door, made sure she had her phone in her pocket, and trotted alongside the Knight Gundam as they made their way together to the central elevator shaft. “Look at you! You’re all floaty and stuff.”

And it was true that Blanche cut a certain majestic form, able to hover at eye-height, with her magical cape that tossed in an intangible wind. “As I eventually intended to be,” Blanche said. “That ought to show a certain ten-foot wall.”

“That’s one way to get over it,” Nanako said. She grinned and waited for Blanche to get the joke. She didn’t though, instead seeming distant. She was probably thinking about serious, but melodramatic knight things.

The elevator ride up followed exactly that tone. Madnug was already waiting on the bridge, discussing with Sazabi. Whatever they were speaking about, Nanako didn’t catch. But she saw how Blanche looked at Sazabi like he was some kind of ogre.

“Nanako,” Madnug said, turning aside to meet them. “You didn’t inform me of your relationship with the Commander.”

Nanako laughed nervously.

“Relationship? Uh,” she shrugged. “I guess it didn’t come up?”

“It would have been relevant to mention that Commander Sazabi was your close associate. He is my superior officer.”

Nanako looked at Sazabi. He was uncharacteristically stoic, looking aside at one of RAIMI’s monitors. He must have been ignoring this conversation. “I sort of take it for granted. Sorry.”

“What was it you said?” Blanche mused. “T’was he who held you as a babe?”

“He’s not my dad or anything!” Nanako held up her hands. “That would just be weird!”

“Well? What is it, then?”

“He’s not my dad, or my brother, and I guess he is my friend, but it’s not…” Nanako scrunched up her face. “It’s weird, okay? If you asked an Axian, they’d say he’s something like my progenitor. It’s kind of like… your role model.”

“So you are bound to grow up to be devastator of worlds, harbinger of defeat?”

“No! Oh my god!” Nanako paused. Then she mumbled, “When you say it like that though...”

“That’s enough,” Sazabi interrupted. “I’m debriefing you.”

Now that she was part of the SDG, Nanako supposed she had to quiet down and listen. She looked left at Madnug. He was silent and at attention. She looked right at Blanche. She was just floating there, unreadable.

“Sit down, Nanako,” Sazabi ordered. He must have noticed her confusion about what he expected of her.

She clambered into one chair on the bridge, swinging it around to face the Commander. Even though she tried to sit up straight, knees together, she couldn’t stop her ankle wiggling from nerves.

“So. You’re all assigned to my command,” said Sazabi. “That goes for you too, Knight Gundam.”

“My Queen has tasked me to assist the SDG in their investigation,” said Blanche. “I am loyal to her, not to--”

“Your Queen has tasked you to assist by inducting you into the Gundam Force. And as head of the current investigation, you report to me,” Sazabi replied. “I do not tolerate insubordination.”

Blanche huffed and crossed her arms. Sazabi pretended not to see the gesture. Nanako swallowed some spit in her mouth. “So what now, uh, sir?”

Oh man. It would be so weird calling Sazabi that. Maybe if she was lucky, he’d relax about the formal rank thing when they weren’t on the job.

“Speak up, cadet. If you have something to say.”

Nanako sat in her chair with her back straight and tried to be as clear asking her questions as possible. “What’s the next step we’re going to take? Or like… what will be our job?”

Sazabi scoffed. “You’ll be told on a need-to-know basis. But for now, I focus my units in repelling further attacks upon Neotopia. Haro will do what he wants. In the meantime, I require a squadron that can undertake special operations related to the investigation. That squadron will be yours.”

“I am eager to assist in any way I can, sir,” said Madnug.

“I’m… pleased to hear it,” Sazabi said, baffled.

“What happens now?”

Sazabi turned his optic aside briefly, then focused on her. She really didn’t know if she was supposed to be asking questions of her boss or if he was going to just tell them everything important himself. She thought maybe she should stop. Hopefully she wouldn’t be too bad at her new job right out of the gate…

“Madnug will give his findings and data to SDG forensics and assist their operation. His leisure hours are his own business. If this is the Knight’s first experience with interdimensional travel, she will acclimate herself to Neotopia and standby for orders,” said Sazabi. “You have school assignments overdue. And schedule changes and personal assignments from myself that we will discuss.”

Nanako went back to thinking about how in the world she would take her finals, much less study for them now. And then there was her ruined attendance record. Maybe it wasn’t too late to be killed in action or something.

“Madnug, and… Blanche, was it? You are dismissed. I will confer with Nanako privately. Prepare to return to Neotopia in 0200 hours.”

Hearing that made it real. That the world she knew still existed somewhere, and she’d come back to it. And she’d walk right up that driveway she left behind only a little more than a week ago. Madnug obeyed without a word. Blanche vanished like a silk handkerchief. Nanako looked over her shoulder, but RAIMI’s presence wasn’t any help.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I know that… that things got all messed up last time I saw you—”

“What a lie. What’s there to regret? You obviously accomplished your objective,” Sazabi interrupted.

“I don’t like hurting your feelings,” Nanako said.

“Don’t make me laugh,” said Sazabi. “I expect a more effective approach from you, Nanako. If ‘hurt’ was your intent.”

“You’re a super mega pain in the butt, Commander,” Nanako said respectfully.

And just like that, things were normal again here, too. Sort of. Sazabi rolled his optic in that amused-not-amused way as if to toss her insubordination out the bow window. “I didn’t keep you to hear childish taunts. I have specific instructions for you, concerning your role.”

Nanako blinked. “I already have a mission?”

“Your role,” said Sazabi. “You are the SDG’s cadet. But you are mine to command — I define your duties and responsibilities.”

“Okay.”

Sazabi paused. It was a thinking pause, not a dramatic pause. Sort of weird in that he was a robot that was so fast making decisions that it was almost his whole job. “You will be my operative in the field. My proxy and first point of communication with supporting units. Your eyes are mine, and you will relay my orders when I provide them.”

“So you’ll be on the phone with me a lot.”

“If I had to supervise and dictate your every action, there wouldn’t be any use for you, would there?” Sazabi said. “Don’t underestimate this responsibility. You’ll be acting with some of my authority. Don’t be an idiot with it.”

Nanako swallowed. “Right… right away?”

“You are uniquely suited to this role. As tempting as it is to place you somewhere safer, I know you’ve irreversibly attached to this mess. You’ll be in danger either way. At least now you can respond to it rather than relying on Haro’s protection alone.”

“Do you really think he couldn’t keep me safe?”

Sazabi looked at her, his optic flaring. Then gently extinguishing. Whatever he had to say to her was of highest priority. “Not from me,” he said. “And I have since learned not to assume all threats are inferior to my own.”

Oh.

“I guess I understand,” Nanako deferred. “You can’t really go out. I mean, like Captain Gundam does. That’s why you have the Commandos. You’re just too… you know.”

She pursed her lips and drew her hands apart in that way that meant ‘too much.’

“Ha! The Commandos have their purpose. You have another,” Sazabi said. “There’s a time for blunt instruments. And there’s a time for precision.”

“I’m going to tell Rombra you called her blunt,” Nanako mumbled.

But it wouldn’t really matter because what was any Doga, even a Commando going to do against the Commander’s word? Still, it made him grumble a bit and knock off the dramatics. It wasn’t like she would be a top-class agent right out of the gate or anything. The whole ‘purpose’ talk could feel reassuring, to know there was some kind of plan to follow. But really, Nanako was just herself.

“You’ll start with one ongoing assignment,” said Sazabi.

Nanako nodded her head.

“Monitor Madnug. Watch his every move.”


	17. Thread— I'm back!!

 

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I'm back!!

1

stAr

Administrator

| 

I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:18 PM

Hey guys, I just want to let you know that I'm back now and everything's fine and I'm sorry if I worried anybody. Just a little time stuck away from the internet is all. 

Who knows, it was probably good for me 8]  
  
---|---  
  
Chiaxx

ya girl

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:20 PM

> stAr
> 
> Hey guys, I just want to let you know that I'm back now and everything's fine and I'm sorry if I worried anybody. Just a little time stuck away from the internet is all. 
> 
> Who knows, it was probably good for me 8]

STAR!!!

Have you hugged your Nega Robo stan today?  
  
ERRORS

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:20 PM

STAR

Dyna Robo x Malamech otp  
  
Gameboy99

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:20 PM

OMG... ╰( ･ ᗜ ･ )╯

SmOKe handle: Gameboy9_9 NOW STREAMING WEEKLY  
  
PhishSox

Fashion Icon

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:21 PM

STAR WTF DONT DO THAT  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:22 PM

Welcome back!

zako.  
  
Mewsa

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:24 PM

What happened? where did you go??? 

/ᐠ｡ퟑ｡ᐟ\  
  
stAr

Administrator

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:26 PM

> Mewsa
> 
> What happened? where did you go??? 

Just some real life type of stuff. I went on a trip really suddenly and then there wasn't any internet there, etc. 

One important thing though, I got a new job on top of everything else, so if I'm gone sometimes don't worry. I just probably am crunched for time more often now.  
  
CandiKane

MalaNega Official

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:30 PM

I don't know if you heard already but if you're out of the loop some pretty crazy stuff has been going on.  
www.nnn.uc/298/4/24/3rd-attack-rocks-arts-district/story.html  
  
DiyaSodi

Malamech GF <3

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:35 PM

these guys happened...pic from the news  


I could add a sig. .. or I could bean you with a can of peaches... decisions decisions!  
  
stAr

Administrator

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:38 PM

You're kidding. Rogue axians found us?? Did they totally blow off Commander Sazabi?  
  
elbie.

zako

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:39 PM

They're not on the Newtype Network. Nobody knows who they are, or where they came from.

zako.  
  
Beryl

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:45 PM

I'm glad to hear from you, Star. I was so worried you had been hurt in the commotion this week.

I won't link any videos here because they're gruesome, but apparently these new invaders explode when apprehended. Thank goodness there haven't been any injuries yet. I remember the second invasion of Neotopia, and that was terrible.  
  
stAr

Administrator

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:51 PM

OK. That's messed up. I'm really not liking this trend of what looks like exploding axians on TV.

I'm not going to lay down any new rules or anything but 

You guys do everything you can to stay safe. Check on each other. If you see something, get out of there and send me a PM ASAP so I can get the word out. It's important.  
  
Gameboy99

| 

Re: I'm back!!

Posted 4-26-298 at 9:58 PM

(￣^￣)ゞ you got it

SmOKe handle: Gameboy9_9 NOW STREAMING WEEKLY  
  
1


	18. Gundams, Welcome to Neotopia!

“Hey, hey, mister!”

A young boy waved a hand in front of a Gundam’s unresponsive face. The mech’s optical display was dull, set in an expression of closed eyes.

“Are you dead or something?” the kid prodded at the robot’s shiny gold trim. “C’mon, you’ve been there for like, forever…”

The robot lay like a cast metal statue on the bench. Until he emitted a huge snore.

Right on schedule, the safety patrol through Cheyenne Nature Park walked by. And almost walked right on past, if the boy didn’t flag him down. “Officer! Hey, officer!”

“What seems to be the problem, son?” Asked the GM, who spoke with a dated codec.

“It’s this guy,” said the kid. “I’m kinda worried about him. He hasn’t moved for like, days!”

“That’s so?”

“Yeah. Mom works at the balloon stand so I come play here all the time,” said the kid. “I swear, I’m not lying! Do you think he’s broken?”

The GM officer hm’d and hawed for a good ten seconds, trying to see if there was any sign of malfunction. All he’d found was that the robot was just as fancy all over as he was from the front: all silver-grey with intricate yellow and gold trim. Only some kind of movie star could look that good sleeping on a park bench. A design indicative a of hairstyle or ponytail stuck off the back of his helm, hooked by accident on one of the bench arms. The GM prodded it free. He noticed behind the gundam was a sheathed, and illegal sword.

The gundam moved. His arm migrated over to scratch some kind of itch on his side. The poor, abused park bench creaked as he lurched upright. He stretched (?) his arms over his head with a great big yawn.

He looked at the kid and the patrol officer with judgemental brown optics. “What’re you looking at?”

“I — um, well — ” stammered the officer, eyes fixed on the sword. The Gundam fastened it to himself decisively.

“Thought so,” he said. “Buzz off, I’m a member of the Gundam Force.”

The GM officer looked like he was about to blow a gasket. The Gundam ruffled the adoring boy’s hair.

“Hey kid,” asked the Gundam. “I’m starving. Where can a guy get something to eat around here?”

\--

Shute saw the Gundamusai’s length outside Blanc Base’s shatterproof windows. It was weird how something he’d seen so many times was alien as soon as circumstances changed. It almost didn’t seem real, what had happened.

Had he been too young to get it at first? That every time you go out, there’s a chance of not coming back?

Nah. Nah, don’t be like that. Don’t be a coward because it’s your sister and not you.

“Hey, Shute,” his mother Keiko said. “You’re anxious?”

“Huh? No,” Shute replied. She’d been quiet her entire ride up to the base. He immediately cringed, lying to her. “I mean… A little.”

“So am I,” she said. “You know, I haven’t felt this way in a little over ten years.”

“Aw mom, I’m sorry,” Shute said.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m just glad you’re here to understand what that worry feels like.”

The shuttle docked with Blanc Base. Shute watched the elevator count down to arrival. The little light reached the end of its docking sequence, and the doors opened. 

And there was his sister. For real, safe like nothing had even happened.

“Mom!” 

Nana was back from the edge of space and from an adventure in another dimension and her priority was hugs. First for mom. He didn’t even say anything, just watched as she dug her face in tightly. He knew that feeling.

Wow.

That was new, and weird, and he didn’t know if it was good or not.

Sure, he had friends. Captain Gundam definitely knew how he felt. Maybe Rele could relate to him. But they hadn’t like… lived the same thing as he had. Not in the same way.

Shute didn’t know if he had so much to tell his sister, or if he wanted to tell her off.

But she knew now. A little, maybe, what it was like to be him. 

“Bro!”

She hugged him next. Gosh, nobody told you that being a grown-up meant thinking about stuff like how lucky he was to be able to do this. It was just too morbid to go to that place where you asked “what if this was the last time?”

No way. This was only the beginning.

“Hey,” he said. “You really gave us the slip.”

“Try to keep up next time,” she said, muffled into his uniform chest. “I’m sorry though. I didn’t mean to mess everything up, I…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Shute said. “I heard about your adventure. It sounds like everything’s just fine.”

“No, it’s not,” she said. “You’re just saying that because you’re a poopy face who wants me to feel better.”

“Yeah, but you feel better, right?”

“You’re a poopy face, and I hate you,” his sister said, which meant an emphatic yes.

He took her at arm’s length. Nanako held it together well, but she was beat. There were faint bags under her eyes. Something about them had hardened, a little. Like she’d seen something, and she hadn’t slept it out yet. Shute swept off his smart uniform hat and placed it on her head, right between those two yellow bunches.

“Welcome to the force,” he said. 

Nanako perked up instantly. It was like watering a plant. She squealed quietly and immediately began fixing the hat like she was playing dress-up. Finally satisfied that she was happy, Shute looked up from her and at the other occupants of the elevator.

It was then Shute realized that something may have been Going On Here.

It was that weird feeling like the planets and the space between them lined up and something peeked through the gap. The universe centered on him and what he could see for that second. Then backed off so quickly that Shute wasn’t even sure if he’d had some kind of insight or what.

Madnug was there, that was true. And he expected it, and was glad even that he could be there. But then there was that new Gundam. The brief mentioned Rele had sent a new knight to look into the trouble, to spend some time in the Gundam Force. But he hadn’t known that Blanche would look like....

She looked just like Deathscythe!

Well, that wasn’t bad by itself. If Rele trusted her, that was it. It wasn’t like he’d met the squires himself, they’d always been in training or something. If someone good could have an evil twin, someone evil could definitely have a good twin.

But just seeing them there, next to one another. Madnug and Blanche. Somebody who avoided becoming the creator of the Dark Axis. And somebody who looked just like a powerful traitor to the Dark Axis, seen together that first time the Gundamusai had accidentally invaded their main base.

Something was Up.

“Bro?”

“Huh?”

“I just remembered something,” she said gravely, with his uniform hat nearly flopping over one of her eyes. “Does this count as… what’s it called… nepotism?”

Shute choked on his thoughts and talked his younger sister out of court martialing herself.

\--

That made the whole flowerbed. Nanako looked back down the row of daylilies and almost wiped her forehead with her hand. Then she remembered she was wearing a dirty garden glove. She took her small headphones out of her ears and coiled up the wire and then began stuffing all the weeds she’d pulled into a paper lawn bag. When everything was tidy, she folded up the top and lifted the unwieldy thing up with a bear hug. She began carrying it to the side of the house.

She turned the corner, and there was Madnug.

Nanako stopped on her heel. She looked left. Then up. Then she thought about putting the lawn bag down. Or should she just run really fast to the side of the house, ditch it and then run back? Was that rude? But what about—

“Madnug! Hi!” Nanako said. She shuffled around so she wouldn’t be talking past a big bag of garbage. “I didn’t think you’d come visit me so soon!”

“My assignment is, for the moment, complete,” Madnug replied. “Should I not meet you at your residence?”

“No! No, it’s great!” Nanako said. Her arms weren’t getting tired, but the bag was slipping out of her grip. “I just… you know… Hey, could you give me a second?”

Before Madnug could confirm, “affirmative,” Nanako had already jogged half the length of the house and before long she had turned the corner. Madnug waited where he was for her to return. The summer birds filled the empty space.

“Back!” Nanako said, moderating her breathing after sprinting from the other side of the house. She’d ditched the garden gloves.

“Yes, obviously,” said Madnug. “What were you doing?”

“Just some chores. Mom asked me to,” Nana said. Then she bit her lip. “Don’t worry, she didn’t ground me or anything!”

“I did not assume that. But from your reaction, I can infer it was one of _your_ major worries.”

“Well, I dunno. My parents never set house rules about blasting off into outer space.”

Madnug watched her brush the dirt off of herself. “That is understandable,” he said. “I am glad that adverse consequences were minimal. We will have much more time to ‘hang out.’”

“Yeah! I mean, I have a lot of homework but,” Nanako began, faltering as the list of things she’d missed stretched on in her mind. She crumpled it up and tossed it into the back of her brain. “It’s fine! I have a lot of time to do it.”

“Should I return another time?”

“No! No, it’s really fine,” Nanako said. “I just have to catch up on what I missed. Actually, I’ll have some time when Sazabi wants me studying extra at Blanc Base or on the Gundamusai, so we should have fun while we can.”

Madnug, seemingly content to stand on her parent’s lawn and discuss all day, paused. “You should inform Blanche. She will be unable to follow your movements.”

“What?”

“Hm? You aren’t aware that she is shadowing you at the moment? I thought it inappropriate to address her directly, if it would interfere with some arrangement between you.”

“Uh, no?”

Madnug turned his gaze fifteen degrees to the left. “Blanche, if Nanako has not consented to observation, I suggest you cease your activities. She has a right to know of your presence.”

You would think a lifetime of television, handheld games, and 3D optical displays would have prepared Nanako for a whole Gundam plucking herself out of nowhere like a coin from behind the world’s ear. But even Madnug’s direct address didn’t stop Nana from jumping a good two inches when she learned that the totally-alone-doing-the-weeding empty space behind her was actually full of Blanche. “Agh!”

“You are troublesome, Madnug. Truly troublesome,” Blanche condemned. “I accounted for all forms of light, if you can see beyond the visible.”

“It is true that your magic is capable of scrambling my detection suite,” said Madnug. “But at close range, you are the epicenter of the sensor disturbance.”

The ability to float didn’t help Blanche’s ability to pout. She bobbed like a sulky balloon. “This would have been less uncomfortable if you had kept your mouth shut.”

“It would have been wrong.”

“Hey! Hey, cut it out,” Nanako said. “I don’t want you two arguing on my dad’s lawn! He doesn’t even know you’re visiting.”

“That was my intention,” Blanche said.

“Should he be informed?”

“Yeah, I mean, in a bit but,” Nanako said. “That’s not the important part. Blanche, were you really watching me that whole time…?”

The Knight Gundam looked away. “Only for one hour. It was dull.”

“Haha, yeah,” Nanako said. “But you know, you could have just asked to hang around. It’s okay! My brother has his friends here a lot. And there’s sometimes the Commandos, because Sazabi also shows up. Sazabi! It’s pretty normal for someone like you here.”

“What’s the use? I was instructed to gather knowledge of this new dimension, to no ends. What difference would it make? Where do I even start?”

“Madnug, you didn’t even get to see much of Neotopia before your first assignment,” Nanako said. “And Blanche, no offense, you’re totally lost.”

Blanche attempted to brood harder, but it was too difficult to pull off floating over some nicely cut grass on a spring morning. Madnug looked like himself: calculating and impassive. Nanako smacked her fist into her open palm decisively.

“That does it,” she said. “I’m taking you on a fun tour!”

\--

“Wouldn’t it be faster to take a SDG airlift?” Madnug asked. He watched Nanako sit with her knees together on the train car. It was upholstered in a cheerful, if very tacky carpet pattern.

“That’s not the point,” Nanako said. “This is how lots of people in Neotopia get around. Even people who use cars park in the underground and take the train to get around the city.”

Blanche vibrated slightly down the length of the car. Then she inched back towards the front. It may have been a hard time matching the train’s frame of reference, but she refused to alight and stand like everyone else. “Is it… healthy for the population to travel at such speeds?”

“Sure! So long as we don’t come to a sudden stop,” Nanako said. 

Blanche looked positively mortified.

“But the driver’s a professional. So you probably don’t have to worry about that,” Nanako assured. The train then took a sharp left turn into a tunnel, crashing Blanche against a row of empty seats. Then right as it turned into the station, knocking her into the aisle. A few passengers offered to help the Gundam up, but she declined: inching up a handrail slowly as if the ground was about to lurch away from her.

“Industrial Park station. Next stop, Downtown Plaza station. Passengers should please secure loose baggage and items….”

Blanche looked up at the intercom speaker like she was going to curse it for a thousand years.

\--

“Here we are…”

Nanako ran up the stairs from the clean underground station, almost taking two at a time. Madnug followed at a more sensible pace, as if testing every step. Blanche didn’t even take the stairs. She just floated. When they got to the top, other pedestrians steered in a wide berth as Nanako struck a pose.

“Ta-da!”

Tall buildings arched overhead, united by moving walkways and monorails. No cars moved along the wide city avenue, but instead bicycles and automatic scooters. Colorful signs lined the avenues along with slick glossy windows and open doors.

And the people!

There were humans of every color, a mix of heights and weights and appearances that few patterns could be identified. There were no purely generic GMs by their side, but uniquely detailed mobile citizens clearly cut from the same Neotopian substance. The few Axians in the crowd barely stood apart. It was impossible to find any citizen unusual next to any other.

“I am aware of current Neotopian population statistics and civic layout,” Madnug said. “But I admit that there is a lot to… take in. I suggest we cease impeding foot traffic, however.”

This was fair, so Nanako walked them along the neatly swept avenue, explaining as she went. “This is downtown! I come here a lot. There’re all sorts of things here, cafes, and restaurants, and galleries, and shows, and city festivals.” She paused and in the length of that pause acquired an ice soda from a nearby vendor. “And clubs and stuff for adults, too. But I’m not old enough for any of that.”

Blanche lingered on two girlfriends exchanging playful kisses at a coffee shop underneath a brightly colored awning. The world seemed to pass them by. “True enough,” she murmured, and caught pace beside the others.

“This is Universal Avenue. If you keep going downtown, you get to Soc-Arts. It crosses Antarctic somewhere, and if you go down that way that’s the Axian district. If you go the other way, you’re uptown.”

Madnug avoided pedestrians with an uncanny ease. He was looking up, watching a few flighted Dogas on upper levels. Some platforms even looked like stylized hands, catching and releasing the robots. “Explain these districts.”

He probably knew where they were, maybe even what they were, connected to the internet and downloading information. Maybe she didn’t have to play tour guide so much. But he wanted to hear from her anyway, so Nanako continued. “City Hall, Neotopia Tower, Peace Park, that stuff is uptown. Soc-Arts is the tech and fashion district. It’s super cutting-edge. The Axian district, well… it’s exactly like it sounds. Most of the Axians live there, but not all of them. I think it used to be an old industrial zone that fell out of use before they moved in.”

“You mean, before they were put there?” Blanche asked.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m… Is that not the case? I just assumed…”

Nanako shrugged, walked on ahead of her friends. She was careful not to crash into a stand of recycling canisters. “Nah. I can see why you’d think that,” she said. “But it’s not that kind of situation. They were all part of an army before, so it’s what they were used to.”

She grabbed a pair of oversized aviator sunglasses from a nearby open-air display and struck a cool pose. “Don’t worry though, we’re just covering the super-touristy spots today. We can do the why-are-you-here-this-is-people’s-houses tour later.”

\--

An hour downtown was eventful. Nanako had planned to take them to a cafe or to go window shopping like normal, but within the first twenty minutes no fewer than two private boutique owners had rushed out to ask Blanche where she had been all their lives, and offer various proposals for a photoshoot, modeling, even consultation for an upcoming winter fashion line.

When it looked like Blanche was going to be so embarrassed she’d sink right through the ground, Madnug suggested that if they all wished to benefit, Blanche’s image would no longer be exclusive. The three of them fled during the resulting highly fashionable fight. Or what passed for a fight on Neotopia, to the amazement of Blanche herself. Two of the participants may have even made friends in the midst of all the near-compliments and one-upmanship.

They ended up spending the next half an hour down by the technology exposition fronts, where Madnug inspected the latest AE phone and said frighteningly similar things to what her brother had said about it. Nanako herded him away from the disgruntled booth operator as he began identifying flaws in proprietary hardware and suggesting corrections.

Boarding an elevated rail was a little less queasy for Blanche, who elected to fly alongside it instead. A young couple and their child cooed at the knight who at first hid her face, then with a little waving and what-are-you-doing from Nanako managed to strike a heroic figure hurtling through the sky. As the little girl squealed with delight, Madnug’s gaze was locked on the horizon. The radial quilt of Neotopia’s buildings receding into the distance, as-seen through transparent aluminum. Nanako looked with him at the great monument growing closer, Neotopia Tower.

They had cleaned up what had happened. It looked ordinary. Nothing was wrong with it. It was a beautiful day.

The elevated rail let off close to the tower’s base. Like usual, Neotopia Tower was so enormous that from a distance, it almost looked like a model and the surrounding buildings were barely there, like stickers or decals. Then, as you got closer you realized that it was so huge and everything was so tiny by comparison that your frame of reference had been fixed to something way too big to see all at once up close.

“You need not explain that this is your… whatever-you-have instead of the Spirit Tree,” Blanche said.

“It is not particularly spiritual, nor is it a tree,” Madnug said. A group of humans holding furled banners rushed past.

Nanako stood on tip-toes to see past the crowd and failed. She waved her two friends to the side and away from the main exit. They emerged outside at the grand tower’s foot: anted by it’s unthinkable height.

“You’re both right. Kind of?”

“I don’t understand,” said Madnug.

“It’s not really… magical. But this tower did get built by the Founders as a symbol of the colony. They didn’t have to. Neotopia would have been a totally nice colony without anything like it. This thing meant something special to them.”

Madnug nodded. “I see.”

More rushing crowds jostled Blanche, bobbing her to the side where she floated forward. “Not so special as to behave with solemnity, it seems.”

“Something’s going on,” Nanako said. “Let’s go.”

There were half a dozen things going on at Neotopia Tower at any given time, because of it’s huge size and because of how many offices, arts, politics, and education establishments were represented within. Even Nanako’s dad worked with a label that set up studio inside one tiny portion of one of the spires. But this kind of happening came with a crowd of over a hundred people spilling out on one of the lawns. Predominantly humans represented, but a few GMs loitered, attached to larger groups. Many carried signs, STAND FOR NEOTOPIA, and COLONY STRONG, in their hands.

“It’s not some sort of revolt,” said Blanche, who probably was prepared to confront a peasant uprising or something.

“No! No, it’s a political rally. For the election soon,” Nanako said. “I’m too young to vote.”

Madnug deflected a few cold stares. “It does not seem to bother them,” he said, referring to a young boy only a few meters away, wearing a COLONY STRONG cap. He held onto his mother’s hand firmly, unsure where he was.

“Come on, let’s go,” Nanako said.

The intercom came on from the front of the stage far ahead. A man came over projection, a square-faced gentleman with steely hair and a very white smile.

“— Running candidate, Aaron Atlus!”

Nanako opened her mouth to speak, but the crowd hit with a mallet of sound. The man on the projection held out his hand, and the chatter died down. It suddenly was too quiet to make a fuss. She tugged Madnug by the hand, and Blanche by the cape. They’d escape during the distraction…

_“I’m so excited to be here with you all today— I bet you all are excited to be here, aren’t you? Let me hear it—  yes, that’s what I’m talking about. That’s the kind of love for life that makes us Colony Strong, that’s the stuff.”_

Nanako grumbled as two tall men boxed them in. Maybe Blanche could fly them out. But then they’d stick out of the crowd for sure, and she wasn’t liking the idea of drawing more attention than they already were. She shoved harder.

_“It’s the love for our families and our flesh and blood keeping Neotopia strong. We sure are glad to be here, with our kin by our side. We could have not been, I don’t have to tell you that. But it’s the strength of those kin who stood up for Neotopia and said—  Never!”_

“This will be more efficient,” Madnug said in her ear, He wedged one metal hand between two stubborn attendants and pushed them aside as if they were only cardboard. They stumbled forward and glared back. Nanako was sure to rush her friends through the gap quickly.

_“That was us. Other dimensions know it! I didn’t see them rushing to help when the Dark Axis came down… twice! That was us, going to help them. And with an artist as a mayor. What do you say to a real colony man picking up the slack?”_

“What is he even talking about?” Blanche muttered.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Nanako said. “Whatever people like to hear.”

_“My opponent has a lot to say about obligations and hands-holding, and that’s all true if you want to see it that way. But what do you want in the big seat when robot invaders come raining from the sky? A civic works benchwarmer, or someone who gets things done?”_

Boxed in again and looking for a way out, Nanako scanned the crowd. A woman glared back at her, alone. It was hard to tell if she was younger or older than her mother. The lady’s dark hair was pinned severely out of her face, and she wore conservative, even understated clothing.

Nanako felt herself immediately closing mental ranks against those eyes.

“Is something wrong? It is clear to proceed,” Madnug reminded her. He’d pushed a few more spectators out of the way.

“I’m good,” Nanako said. She put a hand on Madnug’s smooth armor, and when Blanche caught up, reached her arm up there, too. The woman only looked more disgusted. Nanako turned her back, and together they left Aaron Atlus behind.

_“And I tell you now, before all other interests, I stand for Neotopia! That’s the question now: do you?”_

Blanche looked back, finally floating as high as she pleased away from the still-noisy crowd. They walked along the base of Neotopia tower looming high above them, the sun held between its two pylons. They only turned a fraction of one leg’s circumference, a few degrees around it before the rally was only a mild hum in the background. The Knight Gundam looked back at it, as if she was unsure what to think. Madnug was stoic, and if he had any opinions, he did not share them.

“Tell you what,” Nanako said. “We’ll go up to the very top. I like the view from up there.”

Blanche began to ascend. Nanako tugged on her cape, something the Knight was beginning to grumble about.

“They have an elevator,” she said.

It didn’t occur to her until she was halfway up the tower and Atlus was receding into a speck far below that this elevator still smelled faintly of exhaust. It was up and running again, though.

\--

From over a kilometer off the ground, the colony receded into a village circle, a puddle of civilization that was surrounded by wide and empty horizons. On three sides, a calm blue ocean. To the southeast, rolling green, parks and a dark bed of forest. Then lingering into gold, the barren land beyond settlement. Islands clustered in the water, with cruiseships taking leisurely courses around them. Air tours made regular loops of the Neotopian city, disappeared beyond sight to observe some natural wonder of the vacant continent.

The new, mismatched buildings of the Axian quarter stood out next to Neotopia’s architecture of curves. They were jagged and tall, though even their needles were nothing next to this enormous landmark. Notably, there was no green within its bounds. Instead, concrete and wrought metal that connected the ramparts like a fortress.

The next stop on their tour was determined by Madnug pointing down into the wide view and asking what an installation was down by the waterfront. Nanako squealed with happiness, because that was the roller coaster down by the boardwalk. Luckily, the train in that direction was easy to catch. That time, Blanche wisely kept both of her feet grounded during the trip.

“Lacroa, too, is riddled with caves,” she remarked. Then she tripped up. “Well, of-course it is, we met in one — oh, Mana's teeth! Never mind.”

After some careful urging on Nanako’s part, to Madnug not to correct Blanche on the differences between caves and tunnels, the ride proceeded in peace. It let out on a transparent-walled station surrounded by sea life. Tiny silver fish flitted by the walls, drawn by the light. They exited by an elevator made almost entirely out of plexiglass and transparent aluminum: one long bubble, carrying passengers up to the sunny marina plaza.

“This is the roller coaster you saw,” Nanako explained. The brightly colored apparatus was even being repaired, with workers hanging from safety harnesses to inspect every centimeter. “Sorry we can’t ride it yet. These things open in the summer when school lets out.”

“That is all right. I did not expect to board it,” he said. “I wonder if they would run a test of the system. I would like to observe.”

“Maybe. We can ask them when they go on break,” Nanako said. “Why, though?”

“The physics interest me,” Madnug replied.

Nanako explained to Blanche what a roller coaster even was, only for the Gundam to recoil in horror. To her, being strapped to a chair and sent hurtling off on metal rails upside-down and loop-de-loop sounded like a form of torture. Nanako said that was silly, that it was actually really relaxing and fun and you got to yell as loud as you wanted when you went down the first big drop.

Blanche took her word for it.

The boardwalk in early afternoon was still sparse; after school hours it would be full of children and teenagers, and venues set up for them. The dedicated sun-tanners soaked in the atmosphere though, even a few brave humans that had decided that the water was warm enough for swimming. Few robots joined in. Buoyant humans had no open joints for grains of sand to get stuck in.

Nanako grinned and pulled them over to a line of open buildings with glass front doors. The insides dazzled with LED lights. She pulled on her newest pair of sunglasses, those aviators she’d tried out downtown. “Hee hee… this is where I like to hang out the most at the boardwalk. The arcade!”

“I don’t see a…” Blanche wised up. “This is not literally an arcade.”

“What?”

“Never mind. An arcade is a sort of hallway. Clearly, things are not called what they are in Neotopia.”

“Well, whatever!” Nanako said. “You can play all sorts of games here. Unlike using a handheld, you can rank competitive… and they’ve got old-fashioned stuff you can’t carry in your pocket.”

She led them inside, and then with a snotty cackle made a beeline to a console displaying a ‘retro’-styled _Robotron: 2084_. She jabbed the ‘play’ button and began destroying tiny, multicolored digital enemies, rescuing tiny multicolored digital civilians.

“Hey, there’s tons of stuff to do here,” she said, without looking away. “I’m pretty sure you can find something fun!”

 She was already on the third level. Blanche peeled off, looking bored. Madnug considered, then chose the console next to Nanako. That game was _Area 51_. He held the laser blaster confidently, but after he began the game, didn’t do anything. “Nanako? I understand the directions, but is there any… additional context?”

“Gun’s not a real gun, you’re allowed shoot it as much as you want,” Nanako said. She may have understood, but she hadn’t looked away. She concentrated on the flashing colors and waves of electronic enemies.

Madnug reconsidered this game. He leveled the sights at _Area 51_ and began again. The levels proceeded on-rails, Madnug wasting no shots. His sight leaped between all targets, pushing the limits of the dated retro game’s frame rate.

“This is simple,” he said. It was not disappointed, but questioning.

“Yeah, that game’s easy,” Nanako said.

“What is the purpose of shooting window glass?”

“Nothing, it’s just for fun.”

“I am detecting missing frames in this animation.”

“I think the enemies used to explode with guts and stuff, but they took it out.”

“I see.” 

In about seventeen minutes, Madnug had completed the game’s run through without error. He observed as Nanako proceeded through each of _Robotron: 2084_ ’s retina-frying levels. Her hands moved the control stick and pressed the buttons as fast as a human might hope to perform. She did not break eye contact with the game and made no sound except for periodic uttered giggles.

A man stood behind her for three minutes until Madnug seemed to realize that he was not waiting his turn, but hovering over Nanako impatiently. He wore a white beret over his short, curly hair.

“Nanako,” Madnug interrupted.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Someone is waiting to speak with you, Nanako.”

“Huh? Could they hold on like a sec? I’m not done here yet.”

A meaty dark hand turned her around. “Oh, yes you are,” the man grumbled.

Behind her, Nanako’s game came to an end as her player lives rapidly depleted, with no one to control the little avatar. She laughed nervously and pushed her sunglasses up, which must have made her almost totally blind in the darkened room. “Ha… hi? Do I know you?”

“I don’t know, do I know you?” the man said. He pulled up a photo of the same girl on his own phone. It was a good photo, next to an arcade leaderboard entry “STR”, but the man didn’t seem pleased with it. “You look a lot like Nana Ray to me, kiddo.”

“Aw, man,” Nana said. She took off her sunglasses in defeat. Game Over on Robotron: 2084 began pumping out folds and folds of paper tickets. “Mr. Tawson, can’t you let me slide today? I have friends with me…”

“There’s rules, Nanako. You’re not allowed to rank for a month still. Let someone else have a turn.”

“I wasn’t gonna record the score!”

Mr. Tawson’s reproachful glare said everything. Nanako pouted, but let him begin reeling up the long tangle of tickets still pouring out of the machine.

“And you, what’s your name, robot?”

“My name is Madnug,” said Madnug.

“You don’t get off the hook either. You’re one of those Gundams, aren’t you? You’ve got to declare your handicap at the front just like everyone else,” said Mr. Tawson. “Hell, I ought to make this kid right here declare a handicap or play in the robot class.”

“Ha! Totally do it! Maybe it would be a challenge,” Nanako scoffed.

Mr. Tawson gathered up Madnug’s tickets, too. “I don’t want to see you sneak past the desk until July,” he said.

“How d’you know I was in here?”

“I caught that little number up there,” Mr. Tawson said. He pointed to Blanche, who was leaning against the glass window outside dejectedly. “I still don’t understand how she did that to my shadow hockey…”

On the far clear wall, a projector and sensor net set a ‘ball’ bouncing between two corners. Players were supposed to stand before special lights, and their shadows projected on the wall to play a sort of full-body Pong. Except, two shadows flew around on their own, without anyone casting them. Both of them were suspiciously Blanche-shaped.

“But that’s definitely something you’d be up to,” Mr. Tawson said dejectedly, as the tickets were pouring out too fast for him to gather up. Madnug stood at the conflux of it, a spaghetti of paper building up around him. Nanako grinned as if to ask, ‘Who, me?’ but Mr. Tawson’s look said, ‘Yes. You.’

\--

The sun was sinking into a golden haze by the time Madnug and Nanako stepped out of the streetcar at Asimov. The old-fashioned red brick buildings and faux-cobbled way exuded an air of refinement in this academic district. College students rushed past, fish-faced in that end-of-the-quarter way. Nanako put out of her mind that she was blowing off some make-up work to be here.

“There’s one more place I want to show you,” Nanako said. “But it’s less tour-y, and a little educational.”

She twirled around in front of a building with a big glass atrium and ivy growing up trellises in front, prevented from anchoring in the brick. “The… Neotopia Colony History Museum!” she said, pointing to the big sign up above that said just that.

When she saw the nonplussed looks on her two friends she sighed and held out her hands, begging. “Okay, it’s not as cool as the most fashionable downtown district, or the biggest tower on the planet, or the arcade. But you’re supposed to be here to learn about Neotopia, right? This is the place.”

It was clean, but not very impressive. A municipal services truck was parked right next to the dumpster.  Nanako wondered if it had gone downhill since she came here on a field trip in third grade. The foyer was the same, though — wide and empty, with the front information counter flanked by an unsettlingly realistic life-size model of one of the colony’s founders, dressed in what must have been centuries-old military costume. He even holstered a gun. Still, her friends didn’t think it was too creepy to approach the desk. The lobby was basically empty except for the one employee. She was in the middle of reapplying bright apricot eyeshadow that burst radiantly over her dark skin. She noticed Nanako and nearly jumped out of her seat, juggling her brush. But she still didn’t leave streaks in her makeup.

“Oh! Oh, hello! Welcome to the Colony History Museum. I’m Jenny. How can I help you?”

Nanako put her Neotopia Student ID on the counter. “One student and, um…” She looked behind her. “Two adults, I guess.”

“I’ll just check you in,” said Jenny. “Is there anything else you need? No, really, I’m bored to death up here. You’re the only thing that’s happened all day.”

“Actually, yeah,” Nanako said. “My friends are kind of… new? To Neotopia. Blanche is a wizard from another dimension, Madnug was born here, but he just got back from space and — listen, never mind. What’s important is that they don’t know anything.”

“Excuse me, I know quite a few things,” Blanche said sharply.

“In the context of Neotopian history,” said Madnug.

Jenny leaped up, threw the errant corner of her hijab behind her shoulder, and motioned to the side. “Lucky for you, I know lots of Neotopian history. I am going for my masters on it, right? Wow, space wizards… let’s go!”

There wasn’t any time to make corrections that only Blanche was a wizard, and that it was Madnug (and, well, her) who had been to space, because soon she had them all off on a guided walkthrough of the museum like it was peak hours and this was her dream job.

“So, as you may know, Neotopia is a colony on our planet Neos II. That’s the name of our star, Neos. Aside from just being in the honor of that star, you can see how our colony was named. Neo - topia, ‘new place.’ The first colonists from Earth arrived to a barren planet, without any life on it at all.”

Blanche looked at the intricate maps of stars and charts that early colonists must have used to survive on a space station, and later an airlocked settlement on the planet’s surface. “Earth?”

“The name for our original planet, I’m afraid. Otherwise known as the Old World, or Sol III. Frankly, not much is known about it save in things colonists brought with them, including media libraries and limited histories. This may seem like a lot, but it must be nothing compared to whatever was left behind,” said Jenny.

Madnug made a thoughtful noise. More life-sized figures filled the next hall, with glass cases of personal items and documents scrolling on screens within. The dioramas were posed to be lifelike: on a spaceship’s bridge, around a table as if debating, with a scale model of the Neotopian colony in-progress to be built. “And here’s our workup about the Founders, in brief. Some of them were the original travelers to our planet. Others built Neotopia’s society and shaped its planet we live on today,” she said, stopping in front of one of the dioramas. “It may be surprising, but out of the many human colonists that came to Neotopia, only eight stayed awake to depart Earth, and later wake early to arrive here. They’re still honored today, and some of their descendants went on to be very successful people.”

“Yeah, one of them was a Mass, right?” Nanako said. “We’re neighbors! My brother knows Ms. Sayla really well.”

“Yes, and I think they would be happy to hear that one of their original visions for Neotopia came true,” said Jenny. “We might remember them as special today, but these Founders wanted to live as ordinary people. Just like the rest of who they lived with. Mei Frau and Ryoko Kobayashi worked as researchers until their deaths, and yes: Dorian Mass was the most successful, in agricultural technologies.”

When Jenny noticed Madnug looking at a gently smiling figure in a wheelchair, labeled Mirai Yasuke, she gave a smile of her own, a little more apologetic. “The journey of course was difficult, and some were more affected than others,” she clarified. “But all of them in their way worked hard to establish Neotopia. You probably noticed old man Bright up there by the front. Noah Bright himself set up the first foundations for education and historical preservation. This museum exists because he thought it should exist, even if he didn’t live to see it.”

“Huh. How’d he die?”

“Gunshot wound,” Jenny said. “Moving on…”

The tour moved down, forward through time to Lin Huang and Sean King, who lived both in space and in what looked like a barren, closed colony. They cloned animals and plants from samples, began the process of terraforming the planet. The list of people responsible for Neotopia’s atmosphere and pleasant weather stretched on.

“I’m sure you can study on your own, but Neotopia’s growth and development has no shortage of historic events. Our planet was fully habitable by 0125, generations after the time of Noah Bright and his crew. Thirty years later, the ratification of Bright’s Law disarmed all civilians and nearly all state employees. This decision ensured safety for decades of discussion and eventual progress for rights of robotic life.”

Nanako had read about this in her textbooks, but gritted her teeth. Blanche listened curiously, as if she was not certain how to understand the topic. Madnug remained silent, staring at each display they passed for a meaningful second, then moving on.

“The historic case of Alex v. Garrison established robot right to representation in legal court, legitimization of unions between robots and between robots and humans, and concretely established that robots were beings with human-equivalent agency required for legal consent. That was in 0175.”

“It took one hundred and seventy-five years for robots to be considered equal to humans,” said Madnug. Nanako cringed.

“I’m afraid not,” Jenny apologized. “Robots were not considered legal citizens of Neotopia until 0180, even though today that seems unthinkable. It doesn’t make their opinions right or good, but early settlers didn’t share all of our feelings or attitudes about the world we live in. To them, robots replaced human laborers building the world we now share.”

“I’m glad I live today and not a hundred years ago,” Nanako mumbled.

Jenny nodded in agreement. “Just about everybody’s with you on that one. But don’t think that the past was ignorant. There have always been people who knew their actions were wrong, and people who fought for what’s right.”

Madnug paused at a full wall of photographs, obviously blown up from news reporting. In one, a young man was being dragged off by two police. His glasses slanted askew and the kerchief over his chin was ripped free. A wide tear split his leather jacket. His triumphant smile centered the frame. The officers were having a difficult time, because two GMs on pelted them with flour. The dust settled on that young man like sunshine.

“Well, that’s the end of this wing. Let’s go back to the front. Recent history is on the other side of the building,” said Jenny. “Honestly, it’s more popular, especially with robots.”

Nanako laughed nervously. “Way more mecha heroes.”

As they stepped into the lobby, though, three visitors came through the front door. They were dark green painted robots, Hizacks that stood taller than a Zako and shared their same mono-eye face. All three carried matte black chain rifles.

The two parties looked at each other. Jenny screamed and dove under the information desk.

\--

“Three separate bogeys incoming —  different atmospheric entry points, Commander.”

Commander Sazabi grumbled. “Show me.”

The Zako currently at the long-range scanning station switched his monitor to the bow viewscreen. The Commander’s optic moved from target to target, then he demanded, “RAIMI. Intercept course for object labeled A. If at all possible, I want to catch that thing alive.”

“Affirmative. Adjusting course for interception.”

“Zako, it’s going to do a lot of damage if it explodes in here,” muttered the Zako, known for this kind of candid disclosure and in fact named Chatbox for the very habit.

“I know that,” snapped the Commander Sazabi. “But I’d rather it take out the hangar than a city block.”

Chatbox had somehow become one of Sazabi’s favored crew aboard the bridge. It was a great honor, but anybot would have written him off as toast circuits almost a year ago. Nothing ever prevented his compulsion to voice his inner thoughts, which had to be highly annoying to the Commander. But who could predict the Commander?

(Or he sent Chatbox away when he began mumbling about baseball cards.)

He ordered his assets in an instant and set them to task. One Commando and support units in wing for each bogey, and the remainder to sweep for any secondary threats. The SDG was coordinated-with. Captain Gundam was deployed, of course he was.

Then he received a phone call.

“Nana, this had better be important,” Sazabi grumbled. The Gundamusai’s course corrected, dipping below the clouds. It hardly ever flew this low these days. On his monitor, he watched his four active Commandos and their detachments scatter.

Gunfire broke out in the background of the call.

“Where are you?!” His demand was silent to the bridge. The voice data transmitted only over the phone. His crew turned away in worry and focused on their stations.

_“I’m fine! We just have — it’s a situation over here — ”_

“Nanako! Answer the question!”

 _“Colony history museum!”_ Nanako said. “There are — there are three guys here. I have a visual, look _—_ ”

“Put that down!” Sazabi ordered. The shaky camera feed poking out from over a desk drew back before any more shots could be heard. “Nanako, listen! Inform your unit that the hostiles are not to leave the premises. Stay in cover unless it is necessary to move.”

“ _Yes sir,_ ” said Nanako, which to Sazabi was strange or exotic to hear from her. She did not belong among his subordinates.

Her camera phone drooped. Sazabi saw what must have been a civilian with her. He re-prioritized. “Adjust my orders: remove this human from the scene, if possible. Deliver her to the nearest safe zone and then report her location to me. I am sending reinforcements —”

“ _Sazabi, hold on, I’ll call you back._ ”

“Stay on communications, that’s an order —!”

Sazabi was standing on the bridge. He pushed the empty space in his processing that was handling the call aside and allocated more processes. He called back immediately, to of course ring dead. And he called the person of the next-highest strategic priority.

“ _Commander Sazabi, I read you_.”

“Captain Gundam,” said the Commander, with only the faintest sneer in his voice. “The situation has changed.”

“ _What?_ ”

“I believe that the party you are intercepting is a feint,” he said. “The enemy’s true objective is the Colony History Museum.”

“ _How could you know that?_ ”

“I have an asset at the scene,” Sazabi said. “They are under fire as we speak.”

“ _Nanako_!”

“Yes,” Sazabi said. “But I did not deploy her. She is there by pure dumb luck, it seems.”

“ _Should I switch priorities_?”

Sazabi considered. “No. I will ensure her safety. Madnug is there as well.”

“ _Thank you for the intelligence_ ,” Captain said. Sazabi could hear streaking wind faintly on his end of communications. “ _But you aren’t calling just to talk_.”

“Of course not. The museum is their true objective because it is the only movement that does not fit their established pattern.”

“ _But why_?”

“I intend to find out,” Sazabi snarled. “But if your objective is only a distraction, the enemy intends it to be highly visible. Do not permit them that.”

“ _I will adjust my tactics_ ,” Captain confirmed.

“I’m revoking air support,” said Sazabi. “I can no longer afford you backup.”

The warmth was palpable even over the phone. “ _Don’t worry, Commander. I have all the backup I need._ ”

“You sicken me,” Sazabi said, and hung up.

The enemy could employ at least rudimentary strategy, to catch him off guard in early campaign conditions. Covert movements at Asimov were far from the three overt strikes aimed for Neotopia Tower, the nearby rail station, and the even-further-away Sunrise Elementary School. Even with significant acceleration, it would take time to double back.

Sazabi made one final call. “Tango. If you are not at Asimov in the next one-hundred and twenty seconds, I will turn you into a cast-iron omelet pan.”

“I hope he wouldn’t really do that,” Chatbox said, but he must have been referring to something else.

\--

That had been pretty stupid.

Nanako rested her hand on Jenny, who was curled into a shivering ball under her desk. Nanako could hear her heart striking the inside of her ears, the speed-dial on her phone felt like an instant of instinct. She lifted the receiver to her ear.

God, she was so stupid. It played in her mind again in that gulp of spit and the gulf of signal-searching.

“You’re in big trouble,” she’d said to those three robots, and oh my god what had she been thinking — those guns hadn’t even seemed real.

The words still stuck on her lips, “Get ready for the Gundam Force!”

She had this picture in her head, or something. And after the fact it looked completely ridiculous. What did she expect to happen? That they’d cower in fear or play their part? They didn’t care. Madnug threw her behind the desk right before one of them pulled the trigger.

Glass shattered. The signal was still connecting. “Blanche! Do something!” She yelled.

Blanche wasn’t not doing something. She had cast some magic barrier, but held no weapon in her hands, nothing to strike back. “I am, child!”

“Do your magic weapon thing like Zero!”

“What? I— I could, but…!” Blanche stammered. Her barrier faltered for a moment, and a stray bullet pierced the sheetrock only a hand away from cover. “It would look ridiculous! I don’t know if I… I’ve never yet…!”

Nanako groaned. She had a knight Gundam who was too shy to be a knight. What, did she chuck her practice stick out and not replace it?

Sazabi picked up. “ _Nana, this had better be important._ ”

The barrage pulled in closer. Would they run out of bullets, please?!

“Where are you?!”

Nanako tried to assure him, “I’m fine! We just have — it’s a situation over here —”

“ _Nanako! Answer the question!_ ”

“Colony history museum! There are— there are three guys here,” Nanako said, yelling over the noise. She flipped over and inched up the desk. She peeked the phone’s camera up and pressed video. Blanche was still there, and Madnug had moved... “I have a visual, look —”

“ _Put that down_!”

His ferocity dropped her cross-kneed on the floor.

“ _Nanako, listen! Inform your unit that the hostiles are not to leave the premises. Stay in cover unless it is necessary to move_.”

“Yes sir,” she said weakly. Someone was tapping on her shoulder. Nanako took her hand off of Jenny and shielded the receiver. Madnug had snuck up on her. “Madnug, what?”

“I do not know what to do,” he said. “It seemed reasonable to take cover.”

“Madnug, you don’t have a gun or anything?” Nanako hissed.

Madnug shook his head. “I am not authorized to use firearms on Neotopia,” he reminded her. “But I have submitted the paperwork, and it should process shortly.”

“You're not kidding,” Nanako groaned. This was a disaster. In the process of rolling her eyes she ended up looking at the behind-the-desk security monitors for the museum. Two smudged figures entered the frame on monitor 03. It may have been one of the catalog rooms. They were rummaging around.

Despite the gunfire, Nanako heard bells go off in her brain.

“Gotcha,” she whispered. She put the phone up to her ear, having missed whatever Sazabi was trying to say to her. “Sazabi, hold on, I’ll call you back.”

She hung up. “Madnug, Sazabi says we can’t let them out of this building. If they go outside, they might hurt someone else.”

“Affirmative.”

“I’m going to move Jenny. Can you cover me?”

“I will never let anything harm you, Nanako,” said Madnug.

They shared a look. A nod, one smile between them. Nanako took Jenny by the hand, put her ringing phone in her shorts.

Madnug leaped before them and shielded the two humans with his own body. The physical bullets largely deflected off his gundanium shell, but not without pain. Nanako and Jenny stumbled into a side hallway. They shuffled, then took off running.

“Hey, is this a bad time to mention I’m with the SDG?” said Nanako. “You’re going to be fine.”

Jenny staggered, clung to the much-younger girl. “I’m going to be fine,” she told herself. “I’m fine.”

“I need to get to wherever screen three shows,” Nanako said clearly. “Can you take me there?”

The graduate student looked up for the first time. Now her makeup was streaked. She nodded thinly. “Yes… it’s… you’re only a kid though.”

“It’s weird,” Nanako said, then cut her off before her eyes went wide with recognition. “We gotta move, they could leave and we need to catch them.”

“Who… what?”

“The bad guys,” Nanako insisted, instantly feeling very strange. Like she should have been more upset, or confused, or scared by what happened. But there it happened again. Like her brain was just missing that switch that turned that kind of stuff on. It wasn’t a fun awareness, for all the stories she remembered, about her brother risking his life where she wondered if he’d been afraid. 

She was afraid. But it didn’t… matter?

“Okay. Okay,” Jenny said. She pointed in front of her, struggling to keep up when Nanako bolted off like a rabbit. “There’s — only data back here, I don’t know why—”

They passed the hall of recent history, and the full-length documentation of extra-dimensional contact, the Dark Axis Invasion, Captain Gundam’s defeat of Commander Sazabi atop the Horn of War, a full-wall memorial of those who’d died…

Nanako kicked open the staff-only door and stormed inside.

The two men tearing up shelves of hard disk data probably heard Nanako long before they saw her. Her phone rang full-blast, _Ride of the Valkyries_ doing its little hardest to demand attention. Then the crashing as Nanako knocked over a chair, skidded into the room. “You! Stop!”

A terrible idea! They could have been armed. They were both older and bigger than her. Neither had a reason to take her command seriously.

Both of them looked at each other and bolted, one stuffing something inside his grey jumper.

“Hey, I said stop!” Nanako yelled, “Not go!”

They were running towards the gunfire.

\--

At least a few things happened in the next seconds.

Nanako burst out of the fire safety corridor after two running men. Jenny was behind her.

Three hostile robots tracked new targets outside I-field cover.

Blanche realized it, and what was about to happen. Time approached in a crawl, her plea proceeding outside the events at present. “O Mana…!”

The Goddess answered Dame Blanche, and through the sigil of the pact between them, passed a divine weapon. It was arced as a crescent moon, as arched as a bough, cut and thorn’d as a stem. The royal family’s emblem embossed into the keen steel. Light to the touch in its mistress’ hands.

“Lacroa’s crescent!”

Nanako had seen this knights’ trick once before. But however skilled Zero was, he resonated with the sword and shield: embattled, defensive. Blanche’s honed scythe cut a long wound, and if there’d been a front foyer and a door before that moment that was a fact of the past. Foes sundered helplessly.

She cursed as her strike, while mighty, had missed one robot. Nanako crashed into one of the human trespassers and tackled him to the ground. An action that one robot saw and marked as threat worthy. Her phone still kept ringing.

At that very instant, Madnug’s license to use firearms in defense of Neotopia came back valid.

A huge Doga Commando, painted orange and black, touched down and locked on to his target.

But not fast enough. With a smooth motion, Madnug seized the gun out of Noah Bright’s holster, hit the safety, cocked, aimed, and fired.

The noise was disturbingly loud. This weapon ruled a less advanced time. The single round pierced the robot’s optic, destroyed cranial internals, before passing out an explosive exit wound to scatter the floor with shrapnel.

The target collapsed dead in an instant.

“Oh my god?! All that time it was a real gun?! With bullets?!” That was Jenny. She’d finally found her voice and had chosen that to scream about.

The last man standing only paused to look at an armed Knight Gundam, a stunned Doga Commando, an astronaut with an antique pistol, and Nanako before sprinting like it was his last day to do so.

A Gundam with a sword and gold and white detailing, holding a fancy artisan tea latte turned the corner as if disaster hadn’t struck the front of the building at all. “Hey, what’s going on over here?”

The man crashed into that Gundam’s metal body and promptly knocked himself unconscious.

The Gundam looked down. Then he sipped his latte. “Another job well-done, by the Greatest Samurai, Ever!”

\--

What a day. You go from being Captain Gundam’s backup dancer to firing up the afterburners and leaving your own support behind. After years of relative quiet, in the past two weeks he’d been scrambled three times.

And given like, six different public TV statements on the the guys touching down, how they’re not Axians anyone knows about. Covering for the Commander during always bothered him, let alone during critical mission schedules.

The Flying Tiger, de facto central unit of the Four Doga Commandos flew as fast as his verniers would allow, an arrow across the Neotopian skyline. 

The Commander had sounded upset. Only two kinds of upset that could move Tango. When someone turned CNR on around his wife, and when the Commander used that tone. The anger in it didn’t matter. It was that knowing, that sub-signal of a specific Fear familliar to him.

You’ll rush when you’re afraid to die. But hearing your Commander afraid of the consequences, that will practically teleport you.

The objective at Asimov was plain. A whole fragging magic sickle came bursting out of one of the buildings, arcing up into the sky and vanishing into a shower of dissipating glitter. No, no tiny particles of glass rained down, catching the evening sun.

Tango landed in the Colony History museum’s foyer and had less than one second to process the situation. The place was practically shredded by bullet holes, two hostiles already were down, at least one bystander froze in shock, and _holy shit, that’s the Commander’s pet kid with the man on the ground—_

The Professor stood right in front of him.

There were so many calculations a mech was capable of. He had a decent processor. But even after all of this time, recognition was instantaneous.

The Professor lifted a gun.

It didn’t matter what armor he wore, or what he called himself. Not really. Then he saw it through a frozen aperture.

The Professor shot that last hostile mech dead without so much as a flinch. Right through the optic, cold as hydrogen ice. When the wreck hit the floor, the gun was leveled at him and Tango felt his joints freeze up in anticipation.

He had never seen the Professor’s face. It almost sounded like a lie for him to have been a Gundam all along. But now, looking through the mask, everything made sense. The calculating intensity of those bright display eyes, passionless fanatic and superior to any moral doubt.

Then the Professor, actually named Madnug, lowered the gun and looked away apologetically. He’d assessed the threat as resolved, most likely. Tango didn’t even hear the poor bystander creaming, some random person come on the scene, the dull whumph of flesh smacking solid metal, or his two flight support Dogas finally touch down.

“Detain the suspects. I’ll handle the civilian,” Tango directed. But as both of them were taken into custody, he couldn’t take his eyes off of the Professor. That girl Nanako got right up, exclaimed that ‘was bad-ass,’ and gave Professor Gerbera a high-five.

What a day.

\--

A woman sat in Cafe Tomino and scrolled down the newsfeed on her tablet.

_Attacks Sweep Skylines_

_Commandos Contain Alien Threat_

_What can you do in a crisis? 5 vital steps_

“Captain Gundam Saves The Day Again,” Aaron Atlus Praises

She double-tapped the headline. 

**Captain Gundam Saves the Day Again, Aaron Atlus Praises**

Three hours after Neotopia Tower Theatre 1-B hosted events for Aaron Atlus’ ongoing mayoral campaign, it became a target of assault. Three unknown, armed robots attempted to make a landing at the site, thwarted by the efforts of Captain Gundam and the Super Dimensional Guard. No civilian injuries are recorded. In a similarly speedy response, Aaron Atlus returned to the scene once it was cleared as safe to thank the brave Gundam personally:  
  
“I cannot imagine the tragedy if this evil attack had happened earlier in the day. Every day, I thank the Lord that we have such strength of defense, and for you, Captain Gundam. You’ve saved the day yet again.”  
**Read More**  
  
---  
  
The woman did not, in fact, read more. The video thumbnail below the cut depicted an official picture of Atlus offering his hand to the Gundam. But the woman knew that it was illegal for any government worker to endorse a current running political candidate.

Not a good look, for Atlus. If his Hero wouldn’t shake his hand. That would have to be addressed.

Behind Captain Gundam was a young man with bright green eyes. He looked directly into the camera — while he was smiling, he was keenly aware of the camera. As he stared into the camera, he stared out of the photograph and through the woman. The robot had an accomplice, there to distract from the truth: a human sought endorsement from a machine.

That would be addressed.

An alert spread over her tablet. The woman tapped the phone function and spoke into her earpiece headset.

“Nathan?”

The man on the other end of the line spoke. She frowned. “So they didn’t get anything.”

“Your coffee, ma’am,” said the GM waitress that approached with a hot cup.

“Put it here,” said the woman. She stirred it with the spoon, but added no sugar as she listened to her brother on the line.

Then replied, “This is only one thing. We’re covering our bases. Tell it that.”

She put the spoon down.

“Soon.”

After goodbyes, she swiped the call button away. The woman took a sip of her coffee. The sunset was fading, darkening the sky overhead Sunrise Elementary School across the street. 


End file.
